Hot Air Ballooning

The first gas balloon over Paris was in 1783, and it eventually became popular with the wealthy, and also as a platform for science in the vibrant years of Empire and European expansion.

Today, however, the sport is accessible to everyone and this book, illustrated throughout in colour, should appeal to people of all ages. This history of ballooning, from early attempts at flight by the Nazca Indians of Peru, 2,000 years ago, right up to today's high tech, and often exotically shaped, machines.

Chronicles dramas like the September night in 1979 when eight people escaped from East to West Germany in a home-made balloon as well as record-breaking flights such as the first crossing of the Pacific in a hot air balloon by Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand, and the first hot air balloon crossing of Mount Everest by Chris Dewhirst and Leo Dickinson.

Describes the World Hot Air Championships, the opportunities for leisure ballooning offered by different countries - and even plans for ballooning on other planets in our solar system.