Paris, November 21, 1783, 11:00 a.m. Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, a native of Metz (Moselle), and the Marquis d’Arlandes took to the skies in a hot-air balloon, opening the way to human flight. On December 1, physicist Jacques Charles and the Robert brothers took to the skies in a hydrogen-filled free balloon. It is only six months since brothers Etienne and Joseph Montgolfier developed the hot-air balloon from Annonay (Ardèche). The world soon heard the news that the French had succeeded in flying. It’s been 240 years since the passion for lighter-than-air has shone through the air.
