11-21-1783

The first manned free balloon flight, launched by the brothers Montgolfier, carried Jean Pilatre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes on a flight that wafted across Paris for 25 minutes, reached a height of 500 feet, and traveled five and a half miles. The Montgolfier brothers had unmanned launches on June 5 and September 19, 1783. Among the onlookers was Benjamin Franklin, American emissary to the court of Louis XVI. When asked of what use is ballooning, Franklin replied with emphatic simplicity, "Of what use is a newborn baby?"

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Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier
Benjamin Franklin