On This Day, November 21, 1783

  Men fly over Paris French physician Jean-François Pilatre de Rozier and François Laurent, the marquis d' Arlandes, make the first untethered hot-air balloon flight, flying 5.5 miles over Paris in about 25 minutes. Their cloth balloon was crafted by French papermaking brothers Jacques-Étienne and Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, inventors of the world's first successful hot-air balloons. For time immemorial, humanity has dreamed of flight. Greek mythology tells of Daedalus, who made wings ... Full Story