Premodern and Unmanned Balloons
Unmanned hot air balloons are popular in Chinese history. Zhuge Liang of the Shu Han kingdom, in the Three Kingdoms era (220-280 AD) used airborne lanterns for military signaling. These lanterns are known as Kongming lanterns (孔明灯).
The first documented balloon flight in Europe was by the Brazilian priest Bartolomeu de Gusmão. On August 8, 1709, in Lisbon, Bartolomeu de Gusmão managed to lift a small balloon made of paper full of hot air about four meters in front of king John V and the Portuguese court. According to the Portuguese speaking community, this was the "earliest recorded model balloon flight". However, this claim is not generally recognized by aviation historians outside the Portuguese speaking community, in particular the FAI.
It has been demonstrated that manned hot air balloons can be built relatively easily using ancient materials. There is however no documentary or archaeological evidence that any manned or unmanned flights prior to those above occurred using these methods.
Read more about this topic: History Of Ballooning
Famous quotes containing the word balloons:
“Canaries in the morning, orchestras
In the afternoon, balloons at night. That is
A difference, at least from nightingales,
Jehovah and the great sea-worm.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)