The hot air balloon is the first successful human-carrying
flight technology. The first untethered manned hot air balloon flight was performed by
Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and
François Laurent d'Arlandes on November 21, 1783, in
Paris,
France, in a balloon created by the
Montgolfier brothers. The first hot-air balloon flown in the United States was launched from the Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia on January 9, 1793 by the French aeronaut Jean Pierre Blanchard. Hot air balloons that can be propelled through the air rather than simply drifting with the
wind are known as
thermal airships.