balloon

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balloon Unsteerable, lighter-than-air craft, usually made of nylon. Balloons are used for recreation, scientific, and military purposes. Ballooning was the first means of human ‘flight’. Generally credited with the achievement are the French brothers Jacques and Joseph Montgolfier, who devised a hot-air balloon in which Jean François Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d' Arlandes made the first ascent (November 21, 1783). Unmanned military, meteorological or other scientific balloons are usually filled with hydrogen, which is the least dense of all gases but dangerously flammable. Manned balloons are generally filled with safer helium gas or hot air. In the hot-air method, burning propane gas is used to heat the air through an opening in the bottom of the balloon, which is usually made of nylon fabric. On March 20, 1999 Bertran Piccard and Brian Jones competed the first non-stop flight around the world.

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