1783    The Montgolfier brothers publicly demonstrate their ''montgolfière'' (hot air balloon).

1783    The Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon marks the first human ascent, by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, (tethered balloon).

1783    In Paris, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent, Marquis d'Arlandes, make the first untethered hot air balloon flight.

1785    Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, co-pilot of the first-ever manned flight (1783), and his companion, Pierre Romain, become the first-ever casualties of an air crash when their hot air balloon explodes during their attempt to cross the English Channel.

1984    Joe Kittinger becomes the first person to fly a hot air balloon alone across the Atlantic Ocean.

1999    Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones become the first to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon.

2003    David Hempleman-Adams becomes the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean in an open-air, wicker-basket hot air balloon.