Development:
In 1783 a balloon made the first test,
trying to fly a few animals. Back in that time balloons were made of a very
thin type of wood and a taffeta cloth covering the top and the sides of the chamber.
Then they moved to the gas technology
when they used hydrogen to fly the balloon, but they didn’t stop at this point,
they invented the hot air and gas balloon (hybrid) and two years later, de
Rozier began thinking about flying across the English Channel to compensate for
the shortcomings of the two types of balloons as he combined a hydrogen
envelope with a small hot-air envelope below it. Hydrogen provided the basic
lift, while the hot-air balloon system allowed him to control his flight
without having to constantly drop ballast or release gas. His balloon,
christened Tour de Calais, was brilliantly
decorated with artwork and metallic gilding. According to modern
investigations, the metallic coating caused a static discharge that ignited the
varnished envelope some 30 minutes after its launch from Boulogne on June 15,
1785. De Rozier and his passenger, Pierre-Jules Romain, died within minutes of
the ensuing crash, becoming the first balloon fatalities. Despite this tragic
failure, de Rozier’s invention eventually succeeded in the ultimate trans
global balloon voyage two centuries later
Later in 1950 they invented the super
pressure balloons as soon as they discovered the rightful material to build
this balloon.
Nowadays balloons are not being used to
travel around the word. However the principle that been used to build it is being
used across military and aircraft builder.
