The Aéroclub Féminin la Stella was founded on 10 February 1909 in Paris by Marie Surcouf, a French aeronaut and campaigner for women's rights.

Known as La Stella, the organisation's membership included many of the women balloonists who had previously been members of the Comité des Dames of l'Aéronautique-Club de France (ACDF).

La Stella was founded as a result of a long struggle by French women to be recognised as competent professionals and accomplished sportswomen in the field of flying, initially in balloons.

On 4 June 1784, opera singer Élisabeth Thible made an ascent in an untethered balloon, dressed as Minerva, the Roman goddess, and sang two duets from Monsigny's La Belle Arsène with Mr. Fleurant to entertain Gustav III of Sweden during his visit to Lyon.

In 1798, after the French Revolution, Citoyenne Henri made an ascent with André-Jacques Garnerin, after the dismissal of claims that female internal organs were not strong enough to survive such an experiment unscathed, and that a mixed crew was immoral.

Women were therefore generally excluded from taking part in the sport, although some did manage to participate in events and public demonstrations, such as the actress Léa d'Asco in 1887 and the sportswoman Camille du Gast in 1895, although she used her maiden name to avoid social awkwardness.

This balloon flight, the first by a female crew, took the two women from the Parc des Coteaux de Saint-Cloud to Neuilly sur Marne in 2 hours 45 minutes.

"La Stella", declared Marie Surcouf, “is a women's club that allows the fathers, husbands, sons or brothers of its members to accompany them on their air travels”.

[17] The club organised conferences, artistic evenings with opera, tea parties called ‘Stella-Thé’, and started a tradition of annual banquets, such as the one held on 15 February 1912 in the salons of the Palais d'Orsay.

This licence was common to both men and women and the conditions for obtaining it were defined by the Aéro-Club de France: 10 ascents, including 2 solo flights and one at night.

From 1912 onwards, La Stella was recognised as an organisation able to issue aeronaut licences in accordance with the standards of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, which had been created in 1905.

Finally, the announcement of the dissolution of the Aéroclub Féminin la Stella was made on 30 June 1926 at the meeting of the Permanent Consultative Commission of Societies affiliated to the Aéro-Club de France.