September 24

The first attempts to master air travel were made using balloons, gas filled or hot air balloons, beginning in the 18th century. The first mechanically powered balloons did not make their appearance until the middle of the nineteenth century. On the 24th in 1852, Henri Giffard, who had equipped a hydrogen-filled balloon with a 400-pound steam engine that produced three hp and made the first controlled flight in a balloon. This first flight covered a distance of 27 km.