The first balloon flight: history and facts

1. The first balloon took off on June 5, 1783 (239 years ago) in the French city of Annonay. The height of the structure, invented by the Montgolfier brothers, was 15 meters, and the weight was more than 200 kg. The first flight took place without passengers.

2. In November of the same year, two brave Frenchmen decided to use a new invention and spent almost half an hour in the air.

3. The shell of the first balloon was made of paper laid with linen cloth.

4. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the first international competitions of balloonists began to be held.

5. In the USSR in the 1930s and 1940s, the new sport was very popular. In the village of Dirigiblestroy near Moscow (now Dolgoprudny), hundreds of balloons and airships began their flights, departing for decent distances - with landings in Siberia and Kazakhstan.