To answer this question it is important to have a basic understanding of ballooning history:
A Brief History of Hot Air Balloons Hot air balloon history is both interesting and colourful. Hot air balloons were the earliest form of flight, and continue to enjoy considerable interest today. According to hot air balloon history, brothers Jacques and Joseph Montgolfier, and the French scientist Pilatr
e de Rozier are jointly credited as the inventors of the hot air balloon in 1783. De Rozier launched a duck, a goat, and a chicken on the very first hot air balloon flight, in a balloon that was probably manufactured by the Montgolfier brothers, who are credited with launching the first manned flight, on which De Rozier was a passenger, about two months later. The Montgolfier brothers worked at their family-owned paper factory in Annonay, France. They are said to have been inspired while watching laundry that rose as it was drying over a fire, which gave them the idea that smoke caused things to rise in the air. As we now know, however, it is actually hot air that is responsible for the lifting action. Although de Rozier and the Montgolfier brothers had the wrong idea about what caused the lift, they still went on to invent the first hot air balloons. After some experimentation, it was discovered that hot air is less dense than cold air, and when contained, will rise in cold air. Understanding this led to advancement of hot air balloon technology, and opened a colourful chapter in the history of flight and hot air balloons.
