First Unmanned Balloon Ascension (1784)

On June 17, 1784, the first documented balloon ascension in America took place in a field near the town of Bladensburg. The man responsible for this event was Peter Carnes, an enterprising Prince George's County innkeeper and lawyer, who conducted the balloon ascension as a public exhibition. It was originally intended to be a tethered, manned ascent, but while the balloon was being brought closer to town for the exhibition, a gust of wind blew the passenger basket against a fence and damaged it severely. Because of this mishap, it was unsafe for anyone to go aloft with the balloon, so a tethered, unmanned balloon ascent took place instead. One week later, Carnes conducted another public exhibition of his balloon in Baltimore, where the tethered balloon was sent aloft with a 13 year-old boy as a passenger.

Bladensburg, Maryland · United States