🎈 The Ascent

A tribute to the Montgolfier Brothers and the dream of flight

Today marks 243 years since the first public balloon demonstration
Annonay, France — June 4, 1783

Words from the Sky

Those who have ascended speak of the experience in hushed, reverent tones. Here are their words.

"We were in the clouds, their thick wall no longer allowing us to see the earth... I felt we were gliding through space."

— Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier

"From the basket of a balloon, the earth seems a small thing."

— Jacques Charles

"The balloon seems to stand still in the air while the earth flies past underneath."

— Alberto Santos-Dumont

"In the first place, the balloon seems to stand still, and everything else to move."

— Sir David Brewster

"There is an art to flying, or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."

— Douglas Adams

"Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward."

— Leonardo da Vinci (attributed)

"The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who... looked enviously on the birds."

— Wilbur Wright

"The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it."

— J.M. Barrie

"Some birds are not meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright."

— Stephen King

"Man must rise above the Earth—to the top of the atmosphere and beyond."

— Socrates (attributed)

The desire to fly is as old as humanity itself.
Icarus. Da Vinci. Montgolfier. Wright.
Each generation reaches higher.

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