<P> 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 Americas 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 . </P> <P> Early unmanned hot air balloons were used in China . Zhuge Liang of the Shu Han kingdom, during the Three Kingdoms era (220--280 AD), used airborne lanterns for military signaling . These lanterns are known Chinese lanterns (simplified Chinese: 孔明灯; traditional Chinese: 孔明燈). </P> <P> The brothers Joseph - Michel and Jacques - Étienne Montgolfier developed a hot air balloon in Annonay, Ardeche, France, and demonstrated it publicly on September 19, 1783, making an unmanned flight lasting 10 minutes . After experimenting with unmanned balloons and flights with animals, the first balloon flight with humans aboard, a tethered flight, performed on or around October 15, 1783, by Jean - Francois pilatre de Rozier who made at least one tethered flight from the yard of the Reveillon workshop in the Faubourg Saint - Antoine . Later that same day, Pilatre de Rozier became the second human to ascend into the air, reaching an altitude of 26 m (85 ft), the length of the tether . The first free flight with human passengers was made a few weeks later, on November 21, 1783 . King Louis XVI had originally decreed that condemned criminals would be the first pilots, but de Rozier, along with Marquis François d'Arlandes, petitioned successfully for the honor . The first military use of a hot air balloon happened in 1794 during the battle of Fleurus, when the French used the balloon l'Entreprenant for observation . </P> <P> Modern hot air balloons, with an onboard heat source, were developed by Ed Yost, beginning during the 1950s; his work resulted in his first successful flight, on October 22, 1960 . The first modern hot air balloon to be made in the United Kingdom (UK) was the Bristol Belle, built in 1967 . Presently, hot air balloons are used primarily for recreation . Hot air balloons are able to fly to extremely high altitudes . On November 26, 2005 Vijaypat Singhania set the world altitude record for highest hot air balloon flight, reaching 21,027 m (68,986 ft). He took off from downtown Mumbai, India, and landed 240 km (150 mi) south in Panchale . The previous record of 19,811 m (64,997 ft) had been set by Per Lindstrand on June 6, 1988, in Plano, Texas . </P>

Who is credited with inventing the hot air balloon