Balloon Ascension Day!

At 10 a.m. on the morning of January 9, 1793, Jean Pierre Blanchard made the first aerial trip in a yellow hot air balloon.

Blanchard, famous French aeronaut, had filled his balloon with hydrogen and sold tickets for $5 for the take off. Our first president, General George Washington and French dignitaries arrived minutes before the take off to witness this amazing feat.
Blanchard had taken to the skies in hydrogen powered balloons 44 times in Europe. This adventurer decided that he would be the first to perform this feat in the New World.