Hot air ballooning began in France in 1783. The first balloon envelope was made of paper and the basket carried several barnyard animals. “Promptly prepare a provision of taffeta ropes, and you will see one of the most incredible things in the world,” Joseph Montigolfier wrote in a letter to his brother, Etienne, in 1782. Joseph’s experiment with the cloth bag over a fireplace led to months of experimentation with cloth in a paper mill near Annonay, France. The brothers sent up their hot air balloons on tethered manned flights as well as the famous free flight carrying a duck, rooster, and a sheep. 

Near the end of November 1783, Pilatre de Rozier and the Marquis d’Arlande became the first human aeronauts when they rose from the earth in the Montgolfiers’ blue sphere decorated with the golden face of the sun god Apollo.

The two men fed the fire at the base of the balloon with straw, setting the balloon fabric on fire, then extinguished the flames with a sponge and a bucket of water. D’Arlande was astonished at how silent it was as they drifted over Paris. Twenty-five minutes after launching, they landed gently, five miles away from where they had lifted off. Only a week and a half after that first manned flight, Professor Jaques Charles and Noel Robert launched their gas balloon from the Tuileries Gardens in Paris and touched down 27 miles away. After Robert climbed out, Charles ascended again, this time at such an altitude that he saw his second sunset that day. 

Of the two kinds of balloons, the gas balloon was easier to transport and work with than the hot air variety and could remain aloft for longer periods. After a few acensions, the hot air balloon was practically abandoned throughout the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century while the popular gas balloon was flown for recreation, entertainment and used in scientific research and warfare. 

While ballooning began more than two centuries ago, hot air ballooning as we know it is less than 50 years old. In the 1950’s, former aviator Ed Yost began experimenting with lighter-than-air craft. He developed the envelope and burner system which evolved into the modern hot air balloon, with a ripstop nylon envelope and propane fuel system. Now known as the “Father of Modern Hot Air Ballooning,” Yost made his first flight on October 10, 1960, at Bruning, Nebraska. Since then, with the development of balloon materials and balloon manufacturing; hot air ballooning has evolved into the colorful sport it is today, each year drawing millions of people to balloon festivals around the world, such as the “RE/MAX Ballunar Liftoff Festival.” What those people go to watch is what the imagination saw first: the spectacle of human beings rising into the air.