November 21, 1783
1783-11-21 13:54 UTC
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The first human flight
Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes lift off from Paris in a Montgolfier balloon.Source ↗
What happened in this minute
The balloon rose from the Château de la Muette in the early afternoon, drifted over Paris for roughly twenty-five minutes and landed about nine kilometres away, the men beating out embers on the fabric as they went.
Benjamin Franklin watched from the crowd. Asked what use the invention could possibly have, he is said to have answered with a question about the use of a newborn child.
Everything airborne since descends from this quarter of an hour.
Questions and answers
- Who made the first manned flight?
- Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes, in a Montgolfier hot-air balloon launched from Paris on 21 November 1783.
- How long did the flight last?
- Roughly twenty-five minutes, covering about nine kilometres across Paris.
- Was the time recorded?
- Contemporary accounts place the launch in the early afternoon, near 13:54 local time, shown here in UTC.