The first successful balloon was designed in the late eighteenth century by Joseph-Michel Montgolfier and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier, the sons of a successful paper manufacturer. Aware of Joseph Priestley's discovery in 1766 of hydrogen, a gas that weighed just one fourteenth as much as air, Joseph Montgolfier attempted to use this gas to lift small bags, but it escaped too easily. He turned next to smoke, thinking that it contained a similar, though unknown, gas, not realizing that it was the heat in smoke that made air expand, and therefore rise.

In 1783, he and his brother built several small, experimental balloons, which eventually soared to 1,000 feet (305 m). In June of that year they constructed a balloon 110 feet (33.5 m) in circumference with a paper liner inside a strong linen skin. It ascended to 6,000 feet (1,830 m) floated serenely for ten minutes, and finally settled back to earth over a mile...