2-489-491 - © Fine Art Images/Heritage Images

First aerial voyage of Pilâtre de Rozier and d'Arlandes, Paris, France, 1783 (1890s). On 21 November 1783, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier (1754-1785) and François Laurent d'Arlandes (1742-1809) made the first successful manned untethered balloon flight. Flying a hot air balloon designed by the Montgolfier brothers, they took off from the garden of the Chateau de Muette in the Bois de Boulogne, watched by a crowd including King Louis XVI. In a flight lasting 25 minutes, they travelled about 5 1/2 miles and reached a height of 3000 feet. From the series The Dream of Flight. From a private collection.