A hot air balloon is a type of aircraft.

By heating the air inside the

balloon with fire it is lifted up. Hot air weighs less than cold air
which means that hot air will rise up or float when there is cold air
around. It is just like a bubble of air in a pot of water. The greater
the difference between the hot and the cold air, the stronger the
balloon will pull up. It means the balloon can carry more weight on a
cold day, or if the air inside the balloon is very hot!

In China they used hot air to make objects fly and the first use of the knowledge was
used to send lanterns into the air for signaling. The hot air balloon is the oldest form
of flying technology that successfully carried people. The first hot air balloon to carry
a person was made by the French Montgolfier brothers. On 19 September 1783, the
demonstrated their invention for King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette at the
French court in Paris. The balloon flew for a period of 20 minutes.

A scientist named Pilatre De Rozier launched the first hot air balloon ever. The
passengers were a sheep, a duck and a rooster. They flew 480 meters. It was a flight
of a grand total of 15 minutes before crashing back to the ground. The first flight
carrying a person was on October 1783. It carried Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier. The
balloon was attached to the ground by a rope. The first free flight was a few weeks
later the same year.

Two years later a French and an American balloonist became the

first to fly across the English Channel. In these days crossing the
English Channel was considered the first step to long distance
ballooning. In 1793 Jean Pierre Blanchard became the first to fly
a hot air balloon in North America. George Washington was
present to see the balloon launch.

The big challenge of crossing the Pacific Ocean was achieved

in 1981. The hot air balloon launched from Japan and landed 84
h hrs later in California. The pilots set a new distance record at
5, 5,678 miles.

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 T F ?

1. Hot air ballooning is popular.

2. The first creatures to fly were a duck, a rooster
and a sheep.
3. The first flight lasted 15 minutes.
4. The greater the difference between the air inside
the balloon and outside the better the balloon flies.
5. George Washington was the first balloonist.
6. In China they sent lanterns into the air using hot
air.

A type of aircraft.

The person who watched the first launching of a hot air balloon in America!

A place where they send lanterns into the air using hot air!

One of the animals on board the hot air balloon!

Number of hours spend on the Tranc pacific flight.

The place where the hot air balloon from Japan landed!

The first person to fly in a hot air balloon!

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