Ballooning: First in the Air Balloons became the first air vehicles. The golden age of ballooning that began in the 1780s captured the public's fancy and offered thrills and amusements -- as well as an incentive and a means for further scientific investigation of the principles of flight. In September 1783, Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier demonstrated a hot air balloon before King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. The passengers, a sheep, a duck and a chicken, landed safely a mile-and-a-half away after an 8-minute flight to 1,400 feet, proving life could exist in the "upper air." The next month, Jean Francois Pilatre de Rozier went aloft in a tethered Montgolfier balloon, becoming the first person to fly in a hot air balloon. About the same time, J.A.C. Charles, a French physicist, experimented with using "inflammable air" -- hydrogen -- as a means of lift. In December 1783, Charles and a companion went aloft in a hydrogren-filled balloon that could fly longer and higher than the Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon. Click here to return to the Lighter-than-Air Flight Overview.