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Aerostat Denotes a lighter than air craft.
  Historical Notes - 1783 The Montgolfier brothers make the first flight in a hot air balloon.
- 1785 The first balloon crossing of the English Channel by Blanchard and Jeffries.
- 1852 A steam powered airship was flown over Paris by Henri Giffard.
- 1932 Auguste Piccard was the first to achieve a manned flight to the Stratosphere (52,498 feet).
- 1935 Explorer 2, a gas helium balloon reached an altitude of 72,395 feet. This was the first time a pressurised chamber had been used and proved that humans could survive in a pressurized chamber at extremely high altitudes. This was a major milestone in aviation and space development.
- 1937 German airship Hindenburg explodes in New Jersey, USA, turning into a giant ball of fire and killing 35 of the 117 people on board.
- 1960 Captain Joe Kittinger increased the balloon altitude record to 102,000 feet. Captain Kittinger also set the high altitude parachute jump record and during his descent broke the sound barrier.
- 1978 Double Eagle II became the first balloon (helium filled) to cross the Atlantic carrying Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman. This was also a new flight duration record of 137 hours.
- 1981 The Double Eagle V makes first Pacific Ocean crossing from Japan to California, USA in a balloon. This was also a new distance record of 5,678 miles.
- 1987 Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand were the first to cross the Atlantic in a hot air balloon.
- 1988 Per Lindstand set the highest solo flight in a hot air balloon at 65,000 feet.
- 1991 Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand are the first to cross the Pacific in a hot air balloon a distance 6,700 miles from Japan to Canada in 47 hours.
- 1999 Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones make the first around the world flight in a balloon, leaving from Switzerland and landing in Africa. The flight lasted 19 days, 21 hours and 55 minutes and broke all distance records.
See also: Aircraft, Airship, Balloon.
  
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