- Notable balloon flights
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▪ TableNotable balloon flightsdate balloonists descriptionJune 5, 1783 Joseph-Michel Montgolfier and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier (France) first demonstration flight of hot-air balloonDec. 1, 1783 Jacques-Alexandre-César Charles and Marie-Noël Robert (France) first manned flight in gas balloonDec. 1, 1783 Jacques-Alexandre-César Charles first solo flightJune 23, 1784 Jean Pilâtre de Rozier and L.J. Proust (France) first flight to exceed 50 km (31 miles)Sept. 19, 1784 Marie-Noël Robert and Anne-Jean Robert (France) first flight to exceed 100 km; 186 km (116 miles)Jan. 7, 1785 Jean-Pierre Blanchard (France) and John Jeffries (U.S.) first flight across the English ChannelAug. 26, 1785 Jean-Pierre Blanchard and Chevalier de Lepinard (France) first flight to exceed 200 km (124 miles)June 2, 1794 Jean-Marie-Joseph Coutelle (France) first use of a balloon (tethered) for military observationsOct. 4, 1803 André-Jacques Garnerin and M. Aubert (France) first flight to exceed 300 km (186 miles)April 8, 1835 Richard Clayton (U.S.) first flight to exceed 500 km (311 miles)Nov. 7, 1836 Charles Green (U.K.) flight from London to Germany; about 800 km (500 miles)July 1, 1859 John Wise and John LaMountain (U.S.) flight from St. Louis to Henderson, N.Y.; about 1,300 km (800 miles)Sept. 23, 1870 Claude-Jules Durouf (France) first balloon to carry mail out during the Siege of ParisFeb. 10, 1914 Hans Rudolf Berliner, Alexander Haase, and A. Nicolai (Ger.) first flight to exceed 3,000 km (1,864 miles)April 13, 1963 Edward Yost and Donald Piccard (U.S.) first flight over English Channel in hot-air balloonAug. 12–17, 1978 Ben L. Abruzzo, Maxie Leroy Anderson, and Larry M. Newman (U.S.) first transatlantic flight; 5,001 km (3,107 miles)Nov. 10–12, 1981 Ben L. Abruzzo, Larry M. Newman, Rocky Aoki, and Ron Clark (U.S.) first transpacific flight; 8,383 km (5,209 miles)Sept. 15–18, 1984 Joseph W. Kittinger (U.S.) first solo transatlantic flightJuly 2–3, 1987 Per Axel Lindstrand (Swed.) and Richard Branson (U.K.) first transatlantic flight in hot-air balloonJan.16–17, 1991 Per Axel Lindstrand and Richard Branson first transpacific flight in hot-air balloonFeb. 17–21, 1995 Steve Fossett (U.S.) first solo transpacific flightJune 19–July 3, 2002 Steve Fossett first solo around-the-world flightSee as table:
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Universalium. 2010.