First Hot Air Balloon Flight

Time: 5 pm, August 27, 1783; Place: Paris

In the morning the Champ-de-Mars was lined with troops, every house to its very top, and every avenue, was crowded with anxious spectators. The discharge of a cannon at 5 P.M. was the signal for ascent, and the globe rose, to the great surprise of the spectators, to a height of three thousand one hundred twenty-three feet in two minutes, where it entered the clouds. 

For more information on <i> Going up in the Hot Air Balloon First Time Ever</i> here is an installment from First Balloon Ascension by Hatton Turner: http://dld.bz/eETg3

The series began today.

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