Gas balloon

[2][3][4] The next project of Jacques Charles and the Robert brothers was La Caroline, an elongated steerable craft that followed Jean Baptiste Meusnier's proposals for a dirigible balloon, incorporating internal ballonnets (air cells), a rudder and a method of propulsion.

[citation needed] On September 19, 1784 the brothers and M. Collin-Hullin flew for 6 hours 40 minutes, covering 186 km from Paris to Beuvry near Béthune.

The altitude was controlled with ballast weights that were dropped if the balloon got too low; in order to land some lifting gas was vented through a valve.

[citation needed] Throughout the mid 20th century, spherical free gas balloons were used by the United States Navy to train airship crews.

[citation needed] Aerophile is the world's largest lighter-than-air carrier, flying 300,000 passengers every year through its eight tethered gas balloon operations in Walt Disney World, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, Smoky Mountains & Irvine in the US and Paris, Disneyland Paris and Parc du Petit Prince in France.

[citation needed] On October 24, 2014, Alan Eustace, a former Google executive, made a jump from the stratosphere, breaking Felix Baumgartner's 2012 world record.

In 2015, pilots Leonid Tiukhtyaev and Troy Bradley arrived safely in Baja California, Mexico, after a journey of 10,711 km.

The two men, originally from Russia and the United States of America respectively, started in Japan and flew with a helium balloon over the Pacific.

The first launch of a gas balloon by Jacques Charles and Les Frères Robert , 27 August 1783, at the Champ de Mars , Paris. Illustration from the late 19th century.
1900 Olympics ballooning event at Le Parc d'aerostation, Paris [ 1 ]