#aeronautics
Vincent Lunardi’s Grand Air Balloon in it’s aerial ascent from the artillery ground Moorfields (John James Brewer), Lancaster Races, England, c. 1785.
Today is the 231st anniversary of the first manned, free ascent hot air balloon flight, which occurred on November 21st, 1783 in the western outskirts of Paris. The balloon was engineered by the Montgolfier Brothers, and piloted by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes.
While the Montgolfier Brothers would not be victimized by their own creation–unlike many inventors before and after them–de Rozier and his flight partner, Pierre Romain, became the first known aviation fatalities in human history when they crashed a modified version of the Montgolfier balloon in an attempt to cross the English Channel in 1785.
(h/t@ESA_history on Twitter)
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December 14th, 2021
Tuesday = project day. I spend my entire afternoon working on the landing gear project today. As the deadline for the project is in 9 days, we are really focussing on getting the project finished asap so we have a bit more time for the final check.
When do you buy your Christmas presents?
- As a Dutchie, (my family and) I don’t really do gifts at Christmas, as we celebrate Sinterklaas at the start of December. It’s basically the gift side of Christmas and we even do something like secret Santa.
Science project
Last year, in cooperation with ASU Center for Science and the Imagination, and NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration, I had a great chance to create 8 illustrations for the project called “Visions, Ventures, Escape Velocities” - a research-based collection featuring narratives by top science fiction authors and essays by experts on future possibilities for exploring Mars, Asteroids, Low Earth Orbit, and Exoplanets.
And it’s finally out :)
You can download it for free in various e-book formats here (or even get a print-on-demand copy)
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Crashing into Safe Autonomous Flight
Later this year, NASA’s Langley Research Center will host the Safeguard with Autonomous Navigation Demonstration (SAND) competition. Source: Crashing into Safe Autonomous Flight
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Happy birthday to Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to have flown in space. Tereshkova’s first mission, out of a total of 48 in orbit throughout her career, was on Vostok 6 on June 16th, 1963.
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A practical pressure suit for high altitude flying, developed by Wiley Post in 1934-35. The modern space suit is a direct descendant of this early pressurized flight suit.
For more on Wiley: Airspace Blog (National Air and Space Museum)
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