The history of the development of aeronautics, it would seem, is completed. Today helicopters, airplanes and many other strange means of transportation have appeared in our lives. However, the magic and romance that are associated with such an interesting activity as flying in a hot air balloon will forever remain in the hearts of people. And today people travel on it. Many would be curious to know how it all began. The history of the development of aeronautics will be briefly discussed in this article.

Bartolommeo Lorenzo

Bartolommeo Lorenzo, a Brazilian, belongs to the pioneers whose names have not been forgotten by history. However, their large scientific achievements have been questioned or remained unknown for centuries.

Bartolommeo Lorenzo is the real name of a man who went down in the history of aeronautics as Lorenzo Guzmao, a Portuguese priest, the creator of a project called "Passarola", which until recently was perceived as a fantasy. In 1971, after a long search, it was possible to discover documents explaining the events of this distant past.

They began in 1708, when, having moved to Portugal, Guzmao entered the university in Coimbra and got the idea of ​​making a flight that would open up the history of aeronautics. Physics and mathematics, in which Lorenzo showed great ability, helped him in this. He began his project with an experiment. Guzmao designed several models that became prototypes of his future vessel.

First demonstrations of the Guzmao vessel

In 1709, in August, these models were shown to the royal nobility. One such balloon flight turned out to be successful: a thin shell with a small brazier suspended underneath it lifted off the ground almost 4 meters. Guzmao began his Passarola project that same year. Unfortunately, no information about his test has been preserved. However, in any case, Guzmao was the first who, based on the study of natural phenomena, was able to find a real way to rise upward, and also attempted to implement it in practice. Thus began the history of the development of aeronautics.

Joseph Montgolfier

From Joseph, his older brother, Etienne Montgolfier, who owned a paper factory in a small French town, received a note in 1782 in which his brother suggested that he prepare more ropes and silk fabric in order to see one of the most amazing things in the world. This note meant that Joseph had finally found what the brothers had talked about more than once during their meetings: a way to rise into the air.

A shell filled with smoke turned out to be this remedy. As a result of one simple experiment, J. Montgolfier noticed that a box-shaped fabric shell sewn from two pieces of fabric rushed upward after it was filled with smoke. This discovery captivated not only the author himself, but also his brother. Working together, the researchers created two more aerostatic machines (they called theirs that way). One of them was demonstrated among friends and family. It was made in the form of a ball, the diameter of which was 3.5 meters.

Montgolfier's first successes

The experiment was a complete success: the shell stayed in the air for about 10 minutes, rising to a height of about 300 meters and flying through the air for about a kilometer. The brothers, inspired by their success, decided to show their invention to the general public. They built a giant balloon, the diameter of which was more than 10 meters. Its shell, sewn from canvas, was reinforced with rope mesh and also covered with paper in order to increase its impermeability.

In 1783, on June 5, it was demonstrated in the market square in the presence of many spectators. The ball filled with smoke rose upward. All the details of the experiment were certified by a special protocol, which was sealed with the signatures of various officials. Thus, for the first time, an invention was officially certified, which opened the way for aeronautics.

Professor Charles

In Paris, the flight of the Montgolfier brothers in a hot air balloon aroused great interest. They were invited to repeat their experience in the capital. At the same time, Jacques Charles, a French physicist, was ordered to demonstrate the aircraft he had created. Charles assured that smoky air, hot air balloon gas, as it was then called, was not the best means for creating aerostatic

Jacques was well aware of the latest advances in chemistry and believed that it was much better to use hydrogen, since it was lighter than air. However, having chosen this gas to fill his apparatus, the professor encountered a number of technical difficulties. First of all, it was necessary to decide what to make of a lightweight shell capable of holding volatile gas for a long time.

Charlier's first flight

The Robey brothers, mechanics, helped him cope with this task. They produced material with the required qualities. To do this, the brothers used light silk fabric, which was covered with a solution of rubber in turpentine. In 1783, on August 27, Charles's flying machine took off in Paris. He rushed upward in front of about 300 thousand spectators and soon became invisible. When one person present there asked what the point was in all this, Benjamin Franklin, the famous American statesman and the scientist, also observing the flight, replied: “What is the point in bringing a newborn into the world?” This remark turned out to be prophetic. The “newborn” was born, and a great future was destined for him.

First passengers

However, Charles's success did not stop the Montgolfier brothers from their intention to demonstrate their own invention in Paris. Etienne, trying to make the greatest impression, used his talent as an excellent architect. The hot air balloon he built was, in a sense, a work of art. Its shell had a barrel shape, the height of which was more than 20 meters. It was decorated on the outside with colorful ornaments and monograms.

The balloon demonstrated by the Academy of Sciences aroused admiration among its representatives. It was decided in the presence royal court repeat this show. Near Paris, in Versailles, a demonstration took place in 1783, on September 19. True, the balloon that aroused the admiration of academicians did not live to see this day: its shell was washed away by rain, as a result of which it became unusable. But this did not stop the Montgolfier brothers. Working diligently, they built the new ball on time. It was in no way inferior in beauty to the previous one.

In order to produce the maximum effect, the brothers attached a cage to it, in which they put a rooster, a duck and a ram. These were the first balloonists in history. The balloon rushed upward and, having traveled a distance of 4 km, 8 minutes later it safely landed on the ground. The Montgolfier brothers became the heroes of the day. They were awarded various awards, and from that day on, all balloons that used smoky air to create lift were called hot air balloons.

Man flying on a hot air balloon

With each flight the Montgolfier brothers got closer to cherished goal which they pursued was human flight. The new ball they built was larger. Its height was 22.7 meters and its diameter was 15 meters. A ring gallery was attached to its lower part. It was intended for two people. The creation of this design continued the history of aeronautics. Physics, on the achievements of which it was based, at that time allowed the construction of only very simple aircraft. A fireplace for burning straw was suspended in the middle of the gallery. It radiated heat while in the shell under the hole. This heat warmed the air, allowing for a longer flight. He even became somewhat manageable.

In the history of flights one can find a variety of Interesting Facts. Aeronautics is an activity that brought great fame and glory in the 18th century. The creators of the aircraft did not want to share it with others. However, Louis XVI, King of France, forbade the authors of the project to take personal part in the flight. In his opinion, this life-threatening task should have been entrusted to two criminals who were sentenced to death. However, this caused protests from Pilatre de Rozier, one of the active participants in the construction of the hot air balloon.

This man could not come to terms with the fact that the names of the criminals would go down in the history of aeronautics. He insisted on participating in the flight himself. Permission was eventually granted. Another “pilot” went on a trip in a hot air balloon. It was the Marquis d'Arlandes, a fan of aeronautics. And so in 1783, on November 21, they took off from the ground and made the first flight in history. The hot air balloon stayed in the air for 25 minutes, flying about 9 km during this time.

Flight of a man on a charlier

In order to prove that the future of aeronautics belongs to the Charliers (balloons with shells filled with hydrogen), Professor Charles decided to carry out a flight that was supposed to be more spectacular than that arranged by the Montgolfier brothers. In creating his new balloon, he developed a number of design solutions that would be used for centuries to come.

Charlier, built by him, had a mesh that covered the upper hemisphere of the balloon, as well as slings that held the gondola suspended from this mesh. There were people in the gondola. A special vent was made in the shell to allow hydrogen to escape. A valve located in the shell, as well as ballast stored in the nacelle, were used to change the flight altitude. An anchor was also provided to make it easier to land on the ground.

Charlier, whose diameter was more than 9 meters, took off on December 1, 1783 in the Tuileries Park. Professor Charles set off on it, as well as Robert, one of the brothers who took part in the construction of the Charliers Active participation. They landed safely near a village, having flown about 40 kilometers. Charles then continued his journey alone.

Charlier flew 5 km, while climbing to an incredible height for that time - 2750 meters. After spending about half an hour in this sky-high height, the researcher landed safely, thus completing the first flight in the history of aeronautics in a balloon with a hydrogen-filled shell.

A balloon that flew over the English Channel

The life of Jean Pierre Blanchard, the French mechanic who made the first balloon flight across the English Channel, is remarkable in that it has become an illustration turning point, which came at the end of the 18th century in the development of aeronautics. Blanchard began by implementing the idea of ​​flapping flight.

In 1781, he built an apparatus whose wings were driven by the force of his legs and arms. Testing it suspended on a rope thrown over a block, this inventor rose to the height of a multi-story building, while the counterweight was about 10 kg. Delighted by the first successes, he published in the newspaper his thoughts on the possibility of flapping flight for humans.

The air travel made in the first balloons, as well as the search for flight controls, again brought Blanchard back to the idea of ​​​​wings, but already used to control the balloon. Although the first experiment ended unsuccessfully, the researcher did not give up his attempts and was increasingly carried away by the ascent into the heavenly expanse.

In 1784, in the fall, his flights began in England. The researcher had the idea to fly across the English Channel in a balloon, thereby proving the possibility of air communication between France and England. In 1785, on January 7, this historic flight took place, in which the inventor himself, as well as Dr. Jeffrey, his American friend, took part.

The Age of Aeronautics

The history of the development of aeronautics was short-lived. From the beginning of the age of airships and balloons to its complete completion, it would seem that a little more than 150 years have passed. The first free balloon was lifted into the air by the Montgolfier brothers in 1783, and in 1937 the LZ-129 Gindenburg, an airship built in Germany, burned down. This happened in the USA, in Lakehurst, on a mooring mast. There were 97 people on board the ship. Of these, 35 died. This disaster shocked the world community so much that the great powers were inclined to stop building large airships. Thus ended an era in aeronautics in which the last 40 years had seen the development of rigid airships called zeppelins (one of their main creators was Ferdinand von Zeppelin, a German general).

The hot air balloon designed by the Montgolfier brothers was uncontrollable. It was not until 1852 that Henri Giffard, a French designer, created a controlled balloon.

Engineers have long tried to solve the problem of aircraft rigidity. David Schwarz, an Austrian designer, came up with the idea of ​​making their body metal. In Berlin in 1897, the Schwarz balloon took off. Its body was made of aluminum. However, due to engine problems, an emergency landing was made.

Count Zeppelin

Count von Zeppelin, having become acquainted with David's works, saw their promise. He came up with a frame made of lightweight box trusses, which were riveted from aluminum strips. The holes in them were stamped. The frame was made from ring-shaped frames. They were connected by stringers.

A hydrogen chamber was placed between each pair of frames (1217 pieces in total). Therefore, if several internal cylinders were damaged, the remaining ones maintained volatility. In the summer of 1990, the cigar-shaped eight-ton giant Zeppelin (an airship whose diameter was 12 meters, length - 128) made a successful 18-minute flight, turning its creator, who was then considered almost a city madman, into a national hero.

The country, which recently lost the war with the French, received the general’s idea of ​​​​this miracle weapon with a bang. Zeppelin is an airship that began to be actively used in military operations. For the First World War, the general designed several machines, the length of which was 148 m. They could reach speeds of up to 80 km/h. The airships that Count Zeppelin designed went to war.

The 20th century further democratized flying. Modern aeronautics has become a hobby for many people. In July 1897, Solomon Auguste Andre made the first ever flight to the Arctic in a hot air balloon. In 1997, in honor of the centenary of this event, balloonists held a balloon festival at the North Pole. Since then, the most daring teams fly here every year to take to the skies. The aeronautics festival is a fascinating spectacle, which many people come to admire.

Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier were the sons of a French paper manufacturer. Having taken control of their father's enterprise, they began experimenting with various inventions. Obsessed with the dream of flight, the brothers developed and built the first hot air balloons - hot air balloons. They carried out the first tests in deserted places, on the outskirts of their factory.

On June 4, 1783, the brothers first lifted a hot air balloon into the sky in front of a large crowd of people.
This happened in the town of Annonay, near Lyon. The ball stayed in the air for 17 minutes, covering a distance of 2 km during this time. On September 19, 1783, having made some improvements to the design, the Montgolfier brothers placed the first unsuspecting passengers in the gondola of the balloon: a ram, a rooster and a goose. All three animals survived the eight-minute journey perfectly (only the rooster flapped his wings, but this was from an excess of feelings!) and thus opened the way to the sky for people. The French King Louis XVI and his wife, Queen Marie Antoinette, were present at this spectacle. November 21, 1783 from the Chateau de Muette, located in the Bois de Boulogne ( big park in the vicinity of Paris), the first hot air balloon, controlled by people - the physicist Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlavd, took flight. In a balloon gondola 20.7 m high and 13.6 m in diameter, they rose above the ground to a height of 1000 m and covered 8 km in 25 minutes. The invention of the Montgolfier brothers brought them great fame, they became members of the Academy of Sciences, and King Louis XVI elevated them to the rank of nobility.

The first hot air balloon was created

Hot air balloon disaster

Ironically, the first balloonist became the world's first plane crash victim. On June 15, 1785, Jean-François Pilatre de Rosier climbed aboard a hot air balloon consisting of two cylinders: one filled with air and the other with hydrogen. The balloonist was about to cross the English Channel. Literally 15 minutes later, the hot air balloon caught fire and exploded. Pilatre de Rozier and his companion, balloon designer Pierre-Ange Romain, died.

How Mongolfer rose into the air

The Montgolfier brothers reasoned simply: if warm air, according to the laws of nature, rushes upward, it is enough to fill a light shell with it so that it also begins to rise. They heated the air using a brazier placed under the balloon. To land, it was enough to supply cold air into the balloon.

Around the world in a hot air balloon

In March 1999, the hot air balloon "Brightling Orbiter III" flew around the globe in 19 days, covering a distance of 42,800 km without a single stop!

Watch your weight

During the first flights of hot air balloons, a funny incident occurred. Mrs. Letitia Sage, an English lady who decided to experience the joy of flight, literally pushed one of the other two passengers out of the gondola so that the hot air balloon would not capsize. By the way, the brave lady weighed about 100 kg!

Humanity's desire to fly has existed for as long as civilization has existed. But real steps in this direction were made only towards the end of the 19th century, when the first hot air balloon flight took place. This greatest event shocked not only France, where it actually took place, but the whole world. The Montgolfier brothers went down in history as pioneers and revolutionaries. The birth of aeronautics should be considered a significant milestone in the development of all science and human civilization.

The beginnings of the Montgolfier brothers

When it comes to who invented the first hot air balloon, almost every educated and well-read person remembers the surname of the brothers Joseph and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier. Of course, these inventors should not be considered the only ones of their kind, since studies of similar phenomena have been carried out before.

The impetus for the creation of the balloon was the discovery of hydrogen by scientist Henry Cavendish: the scientist found out that the density of “combustible air” is much less than ordinary air.

It was this property that was used in the first experiments and subsequent discoveries of Montgolfier. The brothers conducted numerous tests with shirts, bags and test balloons made from natural fabrics, which, although they flew up, were not very high. But for that time, even such facts turned out to be frighteningly new and almost revolutionary.

The first full-fledged tests took place in 1782, when a three-cubic-meter balloon rose into the air. The next balloon was much larger: the structure weighed 225 kilograms and consisted of four side stripes and a dome made of cotton covered with paper. On June 4, the inventors launched this prototype into the air, but only managed to cover about one and a half kilometers, and the flight ended in a fall. The Montgolfier brothers were not the only ones who carried out similar research during this period: the Frenchman Jacques Charles launched balloons filled with hydrogen, which was a significant leap in the development of this area.

If the balloons from the explorer brothers, filled with warm air, were called hot air balloons, then the creations of Monsieur Charles were called charliers.

After such a start, which was considered practically successful, the Montgolfier brothers received strong support from the Academy of Sciences. Financial investments allowed them to carry out new launches, so the next balloon, on which a strange company - a sheep, a goose and a rooster rode, was significantly larger than its predecessor: 450 kilograms with a volume of 1000 cubic meters. After its relatively successful landing (the basket fell smoothly from a height of about half a kilometer), it was decided to test the aerial structure with people on board.

At the same time, Jacques Charles launched a ball made of rubber-impregnated silk, which during its first flight was able to cover a distance of 28 kilometers.

First successful flight

The Montgolfier brothers dreamed of becoming the first passengers of their invention, but their father forbade such a risk. The search for volunteers did not take much time, and the first people to take to the air were Pilatre de Rosier and the Marquis D'Arlandes.

The Montgolfier brothers were able to make their first flight already in 1784, when 7 more people boarded with them. This journey is considered to be the first commercial flight in the history of aviation.

The brothers planned the first flight for November 21, 1873. It was on this day that the epoch-making journey of the two discoverers took place: the balloon, rising to a height of one kilometer, flew a distance of more than 9 kilometers in 25 minutes. The first passengers turned out to be more than skilled balloonists and perfectly controlled the huge balloon, which largely ensured the success of the event.

The successful flight spurred the desire to develop this direction further, but the next goal that the brothers and their followers set their sights on turned out to be too difficult. An attempt to fly across the English Channel, not coordinated with the Montgolfiers themselves, turned out to be unsuccessful for Pilâtre de Rozier: he died when a burnt balloon fell. Two milestones sadly coincided in the fate of this pioneer: the honor of being the first person in a hot air balloon and the tragedy of becoming his first victim.

After this, aeronautics began to develop by leaps and bounds. Jacques Charles, in his research, not only significantly made flights safer, but also invented a way to measure flight altitude and regulate it. Traveling in hot air balloons stimulated the invention of the parachute: in 1797, Andre-Jacques Garnerin successfully completed the first jump, escaping with only a dislocated wrist. And already in 1799, the first parachute jump was made by a woman - Jeanne Labrosse, a student of Garnerin.

Today, hot air balloons, having undergone not very drastic design changes, are still used in aeronautics, are popular with people and decorate many holidays. Huge bright balls made of durable fabric with a sufficient level of safety became not a means of transportation, but an attempt by man to get closer to the sky.

Since ancient times, man has dreamed of rising to the sky. He looked at the flying birds and thought about how to gain the same freedom and travel wherever his eyes look. He intuitively felt that the time to fly would come, he just needed to wait a little and give free rein to his imagination. And so it happened.

« Humanity will not remain forever on Earth, but in pursuit of light and space, it will first timidly penetrate beyond the atmosphere, and then conquer the entire circumsolar space»

Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky

Performance medieval people about flight was quite logical: in order to rise into the air, you need wings, because this is how birds travel through the air. That is why in many stories and myths that have survived from those times, there are so many heroes who gained wings and rushed up to the sun.

The most famous legend is that Daedalus and his son Icarus tried to escape from the island of Crete to escape the wrath of King Minos. To do this, Daedalus made wings from wax and feathers for himself and his son. True, during the flight, Icarus, as they say, “freaked out” and decided to go crazy, flying too high to the Sun. The wax on the feathers melted, the wings crumbled, and the young man rushed down at the speed of a diving fighter. We know what happened next. On the one hand, such a legend should discourage any dreamer from wanting to fly, but on the other hand, its meaning is much deeper and it does not teach us about flying at all.

In fact, there are quite a lot of works with flying characters, and their authors are very inventive. Remember, for example, Baba Yaga and her famous stupa with a broom - this is an entire aircraft of a complex design. Walking boots, flying carpets, witches' brooms and much more - all this is the product of the imagination of dreamers who wanted to see the earth from a bird's eye view. It was stories like this that inspired real inventors to create their inventions, which allowed them to break away from the surface.

The first attempts at human flight above the earth

If we abstract from myths and turn to historical literature and facts that have come to us from the past, then in them you can find references to people who in different times tried to build some kind of aircraft.

In 852, an Arab scientist and inventor named Abbas ibn Firnas built wings from feathers and fabric on a wooden frame. With this design he jumped from the minaret of the Great Mosque in Cordoba. He jumped successfully and didn’t even die: the structure worked like a parachute, so the scientist escaped with only bruises. Such success infected him with the dream of flying for real, and Abbas ibn Firnas devoted the rest of his life to developing a more advanced aircraft.

In 875, Abbas ibn Firnas again jumped from a high point on artificial wings, and this jump made him the first person to achieve controlled flight on artificial wings. The scientist stayed in the air for almost 10 minutes. Technically, it was more of a planning exercise, which is why Abbas ibn Firnas is credited as the inventor of the hang glider prototype.

Subsequently, the design of such a glider was mentioned more than once in historical chronicles, collected all over the earth. Even in medieval Rus', according to legends, at holidays daredevils liked to have fun by jumping “from a church or a high building on silk wings.”

Many remember the moment from Leonid Gaidai’s beloved comedy “Ivan Vasilyevich Changes Profession,” where a tipsy Ivan the Terrible tells Shurik the story of how one of the craftsmen of his time made wings, after which the Tsar put the heretic on a barrel of gunpowder, “let him fly!” .

In fact, this story is more real than it seems. At the beginning of the 20th century, historians discovered a document in the archives in which Ivan the Terrible’s decree of 1565 was written, according to which it was necessary: ​​“The slave of the boyar’s son Lupatov, the smerda of Nikita Kryakutny, who flew on homemade wings from the tower of Ivan the Terrible’s palace in Alexandrova Sloboda. A man is not a bird, he does not have wings. If anyone puts on himself like wooden wings, acts against nature, for this collaboration with evil spirits, cut off the head of the inventor, the body of a cursed dog, a stinking dog, throw it to pigs to be eaten, and burn the invention with fire after the sacred liturgy.”

Transition from wings to balloons

For a long time, people tried to fly into the air on aircraft built based on the shape of a bird's wing. Many people remember the famous works of Leonardo da Vinci with drawings of aircraft that, theoretically, could still fly into the air if they were slightly modified.

Wings were replaced by balloons and hot air. The first mention of a successful hot air balloon flight came from China, the birthplace of flying lanterns, which are popular to this day. In 1306, a festive ceremony was held to welcome the new emperor, and in his honor, Chinese craftsmen raised a balloon filled with hot air into the air. It is not known whether a person rose up with the balloon, but guests from France claimed that this device took off quite high and flew away from people at a great distance.

Four centuries later, in 1709, the Brazilian and Portuguese naturalist (and also priest!) Bartolomeu Lourenço de Guzman, in front of an astonished public and dignitaries, was able to lift a hot air balloon into the air. King João V of Portugal was so amazed by what he saw that he immediately gave the order to award Bartolomeu the title of professor. mathematical sciences, as well as the full privilege to use such an invention. There are references that de Guzman was able to fly a whole kilometer in his Passarola hot air balloon, but there is no convincing evidence of this.

Experience of the Montgolfier brothers

Having made sure that a hot air balloon was the most convenient design for flight in the realities of technical achievements of those times, people began to develop this idea.

The owners of a paper mill in France, brothers Jacques-Etienne and Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, were distinguished by their lively minds and did not focus on making money, preferring to engage in scientific research. It was the second half of the 18th century, and learning was in vogue. The brothers investigated such a curiosity at that time as electricity, which, in their opinion, accumulated in the clouds, which is why they soared into the air.

To test their theory, Jacques and Joseph decided to make a model of clouds from paper balls filled with the combustion products of wet sheep wool and dry grass.
When the brothers began the experiment, they noted that some of the balls soared high into the air and did not fall to the ground for a long time. This fact gave researchers the idea of ​​making a large balloon that could not only fly into the air, but also lift a payload.

After a whole year of work, on June 5, 1793, the brothers were able to present their work to the general public. The ball was made of paper and thick canvas, because the scientists had their own factory at hand for the production of these materials. The structure was surrounded by a fabric belt, to which ropes were attached, with the help of which it was planned to hold the structure. For those times, the ball was truly huge - more than 11 meters in diameter.

Despite the fact that most people in the city considered the brothers-adventurers, to put it mildly, eccentrics, many came to see the experiment. Since the Montgolfier brothers mistakenly assumed that the balloon took off due to the special composition of the smoke, they again decided to use sheep's wool and straw as fuel to lift the structure into the air. After some time, the cavity of the ball was completely filled with hot air, and people on the ground were already struggling to hold back the power rushing to be unleashed. On the side of the ball was the inscription: “Ad Astra” (“To the stars”), which was part of the famous saying of Lucius Annaeus Seneca “through thorns to the stars.”

In 10 minutes, Montgolfier's balloon soared into the air to a height of almost 500 meters, lifting a load of almost 200 kg, and levitated there for about 10 minutes. The structure landed more than a kilometer from the launch site. Despite the fact that such an experiment was considered an adventure, the authorities approached it with the utmost severity: throughout the entire experiment, the process was monitored by a commission that recorded the results. As a result, the Montgolfier brothers were granted one of the first patents for the invention.

Louis XVI and Professor Charles

Louis XVI was well known as a man of no conservative views. He valued science and believed in human technological progress. The success of the Montgolfier brothers could not be ignored by the monarch, so soon a messenger came to them with a personal invitation from the king to come to Versailles to demonstrate this miracle.

While the brothers were thinking about what to wear when visiting the royal person, the Versailles scientist Jacques Charles decided to repeat Montgolfier's experiment at the request of Louis. As rumors about the balloon's design spread quickly, in just one night the French inventor sketched out a similar balloon, except that it would need to be filled with a lighter-than-air gas, such as hydrogen. Charles also proposed making the structure of the ball lighter and more airtight: using Chinese silk with special impregnation for this, so that the gas does not escape through the pores in the fabric.

On August 27, 1783, Jacques Charles gathered a crowd of his fans on the Champ de Mars (according to some sources, several hundred thousand people gathered), after which he proudly showed the audience his work called “The Globe”. This ball was several times smaller than what the Montgolfier brothers made, but it was filled with real hydrogen, which made it as effective as possible. As soon as the ball was released, it rushed upward with great speed, and gained a height of almost one and a half kilometers. After this, the shell of the structure could not stand it and burst, landing a couple of tens of kilometers from the launch site on peasant fields. The peasants did not appreciate such a joke, considering the fallen ball to be the product of Satan, for which they punished him with pitchforks and shovels. However, Charles was not at all upset, because his invention worked.

The scientific community pays tribute to both the invention of the Montgolfier brothers and Jacques Charles. Balloons that work on the principle of rising with hot air are called “hot air balloons”, and balloons filled with gas lighter than air are called “charliers”..

The first flights of people in hot air balloons

The Montgolfier brothers powdered their noses until the fall, and only at the beginning of September 1783 they reached Paris. In fact, the inventors simply improved the design of their ball so as not to fall on their face in front of the royal person. They also shocked the public with the announcement that they were ready to make the first manned flight in a hot air balloon.

The public was alarmed. People simply could not imagine what could happen to a person at altitude. The priests fainted and prophesied divine punishment for anyone who tried to reach God. In general, everything is as always. Looking at this, the brothers did not abandon their intentions to take to the air, but Louis XVI thought otherwise. The wise king decided that there was no point in mourning the possible death of such bright minds, so he proposed sending up inveterate criminals whose lives were not at all sorry. This would have happened, but one of the advisers suggested to the king that it would be inappropriate to make scumbag suicide bombers hero aeronauts.

On September 19, 1783, a crowd of thousands of onlookers again gathered around the Palace of Versailles who wanted spectacles (preferably bloody, as was customary). Most people thought that the testers would simply fall to the ground and bleed, so they couldn't miss such a show. The experiment was also observed by a whole commission of scientists from all over Europe.

In order not to follow the lead of the crowd, the Montgolfier brothers decided to send animals, not people, into the air. So, they tied a basket to the ball, in which they put a ram, a duck and a rooster. The ball soared upward, as intended, but at the height its shell could not stand it and cracked. Despite the leakage of hot air, the balloon managed to glide back to the ground so smoothly that the animals in the basket were not harmed at all.

Encouraged by experience, natural scientists began to prepare a new balloon flight, but now with a person on board. On November 21, 1783, young brave adventurers named Pilatre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes managed not only to fly up in their balloon, but also successfully flew in a hot air balloon for almost 10 kilometers, after which they also successfully landed, becoming the first people who have made a real flight. Thus began the era of human travel in the sky.

Just a year later, the sky over Europe was full of a wide variety of hot air balloons, on which young daredevils began to set various records and attempt real travel.

Human achievements in modern aeronautics

Just 25 minutes of flight by Pilâtre de Rozier inspired young adventurers and respected scientists to take up aeronautics.

The scientist Jacques Charles continued the development of a balloon of his own design, and was one of the first to fly to an unimaginable height - almost 3 kilometers.

Already on January 7, 1785, the French pioneer of aviation and aeronautics Francois Blanchard decided on a crazy act - a flight across the English Channel, which lasted two and a half hours. Pilatre de Rosier decided to repeat Blanchard's feat, but due to bad weather his balloon crashed and Rosier himself died.

The famous writer Jules Verne also made his contribution to the exploration of the sky, especially his story “Around the World in 80 Days.” Looking at the successes of sailors and their trips around the world, flight enthusiasts decided that their greatest achievement would be trip around the world by air. For a long time, no one dared to undertake such a suicidal adventure; balloons were not designed for such long flights.

Time passed, technology improved, and the first airships appeared in the sky. Finally, in August - September 1929, the German airship LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" under the command of Hugo Eckener was able to make a real round-the-world flight around the globe. In just 20 days, the zeppelin covered more than 34 thousand kilometers and successfully landed at its point of departure.

The first real trip around the world without landing took place only in 2002: American traveler Steve Fossett managed to set a record and fly around the earth in his balloon.

These days, the real record holder is the Russian traveler Fyodor Konyukhov, who was able to make an incredible number of trips around our planet using a wide variety of transport. Konyukhov even managed to swim across Atlantic Ocean on a rowing boat. In 2016, Fedor traveled around the world in a hot air balloon, circling the planet in just 11 days.

November 21, 1783 is a significant day in the history of aeronautics. On this day, two brave Frenchmen: Pilatre de Rosier and the Marquis d'Arlandes, for the first time in history, flew in the Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon. The balloonists reached a height of 915 m and covered a distance of 9 km in 25 minutes.

Brothers Joseph and Jacques-Etienne had the idea to make their own unique invention - a hot air balloon that could travel considerable distances. Numerous studies by various chemists and physicists led them to this decision. So, in 1766, after the discovery of hydrogen, Henry Cavendish found out that the so-called “combustible air” is several times less dense than air itself. The Montgolfier brothers decided to conduct their experiments by filling shirts and then paper bags with hot air from a fire. Next, numerous tests were carried out to launch balls made of silk and linen. The filled objects rose to the ceiling, which was already a huge breakthrough. This invention of the brothers was supposed to help in military affairs - Joseph thought through the option of an air attack on the enemy when there was no approach to land.

Such experiments, despite their simplicity, made a huge breakthrough in aeronautics. Yet the brothers relied on the erroneous belief that the combustion of a special mixture of wool and straw created a kind of “electric smoke” that could lift a light body filled with it. Montgolfiers took a paper ball with a hole at the bottom and filled it with hot gases, which were lighter than air as long as their temperature was high. Saussure, who continued their work, tried to lift up a ball filled with air heated by a hot iron strip inserted into the hole of the ball. However, the experiment always remained unfinished.

The researchers carefully prepared for each experiment, constantly changing the size of the spheres and the composition of flammable substances. In 1782, Joseph and Jacques-Etienne set about making a test balloon measuring three cubic meters filled with hot air. The experiment was a success, and therefore the brothers further decided to increase the size of the ball in diameter by several tens of times. The sphere was made of cotton and covered with paper. It consisted of four parts - a dome and three side stripes. In total, the structure weighed more than 225 kilograms and had a volume of 800 cubic meters and was completed in April 1783.

On June 4, 1783, a public demonstration of the invention of the Montgolfier brothers took place, which was attended by a huge number of people. Within ten minutes, the balloon gained altitude and fell to the ground 4 thousand feet from the launch site. It was scientific success, however, requiring careful development. French inventor and scientist Jacques Charles then also decided to try himself in the field of aeronautics - he filled a balloon with hydrogen, which gave a significant leap in research. Depending on the in various ways filling the balloons they received different names. Thus, spheres filled with warm air were called hot air balloons, and spheres filled with hydrogen were called charliers. The first Charlier was launched from the Champ de Mars in Paris on August 27, 1783. It should be noted that all the experiments carried out were carried out only in balloons without passengers, since there was a danger of the structures falling from a great height.

Information about the successful launch of a huge balloon reached the top - the Academy of Sciences, which offered Montgolfier funding for all experiments. Naturally, this was a tempting offer, since all the funds for previous experiments came from the brothers’ own pockets. And then the Montgolfiers decided to go further - to create a larger ball, this time with a volume of a thousand cubic meters and a weight of 450 kilograms. Despite some difficulties in manufacturing, the sphere was ready in the fall of the same year.

On September 19, 1783, in Versailles, experimental brothers for the first time released into the air a balloon containing a sheep, a rooster and a goose in a wicker basket. The entire flight took about eight minutes, during which the structure covered a distance of three kilometers. At an altitude of 500 meters, the sphere broke through, but descended to the ground so smoothly that not a single animal was harmed. This event marked new round in the development of aeronautics, it was only necessary to find a more durable material so that it would be possible to lift people into the air.

Encouraged by the successful demonstration at Versailles, Joseph and Jacques-Etienne set about making the largest hot air balloon that could lift two people into the air. The younger brother began to design a new invention, slightly changing the drawings of the previous spheres. The new balloon was strikingly different from its predecessors - it had an oval shape, more than 13 meters in diameter, a volume of more than 2 thousand cubic meters and a weight of 500 kilograms. Moreover, it was festively decorated - the figure of the king was visible on a blue background, as well as the signs of the zodiac and numerous flowers.

The time has come for people to test the strength of a hot air balloon. Jacques-Etienne dreamed of flying an invention he and his brother had made together, but their father strictly forbade this. Therefore, such an honor fell to Pilatre de Rosier and the army officer - the Marquis d'Arlande.

The debut flight took place on the western outskirts of Paris on November 21, 1783. The experiment was quite successful - the balloon rose up almost one kilometer, and in 25 minutes it was able to cover a distance of nine miles. Given scientific discovery literally blew up France - in all the shops you could buy various souvenirs in the form of balloons, the dishes were full of pictures with them. Already on December 10, 1783, Joseph and Jacques-Etienne were invited to the Academy of Sciences, where they were awarded for their achievements in aeronautics, and their father Pierre received a noble title. In 1783, Louis XVI summoned Etienne and Joseph from Annon to Paris, bestowing upon them a title of nobility and a coat of arms with the motto “Thus one rises to the stars.” For outstanding achievements in the field of aeronautics, Louis XVI awarded Etienne and Joseph Montgolfier with the Order of St. Michael.