He was born in Metz, the third son of Magdeleine Wilmard and Mathurin Pilastre, known as "de Rozier", a former soldier who became an innkeeper.

His interests in the chemistry of drugs had been awakened in the military hospital of Metz, an important garrison town on the border of France.

He made his way to Paris at the age of 18, then taught physics and chemistry at the Academy in Reims, which brought him to the attention of the Comte de Provence, brother of King Louis XVI.

He opened his own museum in the Marais quarter of Paris on 11 December 1781, where he undertook experiments in physics, and provided demonstrations to nobles.

Their 25-minute flight travelled slowly about 5½ miles (some 9 km) to the southeast, attaining an altitude of 3,000 feet, before returning to the ground at the Butte-aux-Cailles, then on the outskirts of Paris.

They travelled 52 km in 45 minutes before cold and turbulence forced them to descend past Luzarches, between Coye and Orry-la-Ville, near the Chantilly forest.

It was prepared in the autumn of 1784, but the attempt was not launched until after another Frenchman, Jean-Pierre Blanchard, and his American companion, Dr. John Jeffries, flew across the channel in a hydrogen gas balloon from England to France on 7 January 1785.

According to contemporary accounts, the balloon caught fire in midair before suddenly deflating and crashing near Wimereux in the Pas-de-Calais, from an estimated height of 450 m (1,500 ft).