Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of air flight-capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. While the term originally referred solely to operating the aircraft, it has since been expanded to include technology, business, and other aspects related to aircraft. The term "aviation" is sometimes used interchangeably with aeronautics, although "aeronautics" includes lighter-than-air craft such as airships, and includes ballistic vehicles while "aviation" technically does not.
Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, known by the pseudonym Nadar or Félix Nadar, was a French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist, balloonist, and proponent of heavier-than-air flight. In 1858, he became the first person to take aerial photographs.
Joseph William Kittinger II was an officer in the United States Air Force (USAF) who served from 1950 to 1978, and earned Command Pilot status before retiring with the rank of colonel. He held the world record for the highest skydive—102,800 feet (31.3 km)—from 1960 until 2012.
Jean-Pierre [François] Blanchard was a French inventor, best known as a pioneer of gas balloon flight, who distinguished himself in the conquest of the air in a balloon. Notable for his successful hydrogen balloon flight in Paris on 2 March 1784, Blanchard later moved to London and undertook flights with varying propulsion mechanisms. His historic achievement came on 7 January 1785, crossing the English Channel from Dover Castle to Guînes in about 2½ hours, receiving acclaim from Louis XVI and earning a substantial pension.
James Tytler was a Scottish apothecary and the editor of the second edition of Encyclopædia Britannica. Tytler became the first person in Britain to fly by ascending in a hot air balloon (1784).
In aeronautics, a balloon is an unpowered aerostat, which remains aloft or floats due to its buoyancy. A balloon may be free, moving with the wind, or tethered to a fixed point. It is distinct from an airship, which is a powered aerostat that can propel itself through the air in a controlled manner.
This is a list of aviation-related events during the 18th century :
Vincenzo Lunardi was a pioneering Italian aeronaut, born in Lucca.
Welham Green is a village in the parish of North Mymms, Hertfordshire, England. It is situated a mile to the west of the Great North Road coaching route that used to run through the neighbouring hamlet of Bell Bar from London to York and the north. The Great North Road has since been replaced as the main artery by the A1(M). Even so, Welham Green has developed into a small village over the last 100 years, helped by the 1986 opening of its own railway station between Brookmans Park and Hatfield on the East Coast Main Line. Recent housing development has portended the joining of the village with the neighbouring town of Hatfield. Some residents, including the North Mymms Green Belt Society, wishing to maintain Welham Green's character, have resisted such development.
This listing of flight altitude records are the records set for the highest aeronautical flights conducted in the atmosphere, set since the age of ballooning.
James Sadler was the first English balloonist, as well as a chemist and pastry chef.
Events from the year 1784 in Great Britain.
The history of ballooning, both with hot air and gas, spans many centuries. It includes many firsts, including the first human flight, first flight across the English Channel, first flight in North America, and first aircraft related disaster.
Les Frères Robert were two French brothers. Anne-Jean Robert (1758–1820) and Nicolas-Louis Robert (1760–1828) were the engineers who built the world's first hydrogen balloon for professor Jacques Charles, which flew from central Paris on 27 August 1783. They went on to build the world's first manned hydrogen balloon, and on 1 December 1783 Nicolas-Louis accompanied Jacques Charles on a 2-hour, 5-minute flight. Their barometer and thermometer made it the first balloon flight to provide meteorological measurements of the atmosphere above the Earth's surface.
Balloonomania was a strong public interest or fad in balloons that originated in France in the late 18th century and continued into the 19th century, during the advent of balloon flights. The interest began with the first flights of the Montgolfier brothers in 1783. Soon afterwards Jacques Alexandre César Charles flew another type of balloon and both types of balloon were in use from then on. The fad quickly spread in France and across the channel in England.
A Mars aircraft is a vehicle capable of sustaining powered flight in the atmosphere of Mars. So far, the Mars helicopter Ingenuity is the only aircraft ever to fly on Mars, completing 72 successful flights covering 17.242 km (10.714 mi) in 2 hours, 8 minutes and 48 seconds of flight time. Ingenuity operated on Mars for 1042 sols, until it was retired following rotor blade damage.
Paolo Andreani was an Italian who made the first balloon flight over Italian soil. He also made an exploration around the Great Lakes in North America.
Count Francesco Zambeccari was an Italian aviation pioneer. He was killed in a ballooning accident.
Events from the year 1785 in Scotland.
Letitia Ann Sage was the first British woman to fly, making her ascent on 29 June 1785, in a balloon launched by Vincenzo Lunardi from St George's Fields in London.
