June 20, 1803

first manned balloon flight in Russia

the flight was made by the Frenchman Jack Garnerain in St. Petersburg. On July 18 flew with the Frenchman also the first Russian - General Prince S. L. Lvov.

March 16, 1836

first manned balloon flight in India

Dimitri Robertson launched with his gas balloon from Garden Reach Road Calcutta

November 7-8, 1836

first long-distance flight in a balloon

Veteran British pilot Charles Green (1785-1870) flew the "Royal Vauxhall", with two passengers aboard (Monck Mason and Robert Holland), from London to Weilburg in the German Duchy of Nassau (a distance of 380 miles (770 km), in 18 hours)

September 8, 1856

first successful passenger voyage of a balloon in Canada

the flight was made by Eugene Godard and three companions from Montreal to Pointe Olivier, Quebec

1858

first aerial photograph taken from the air

French photographer and aeronaut Gaspard-Félix Tournachon called "Nadar" (1820-1910) was first to take aerial photographs over Paris from a balloon in 1858 (In 1855 he patented the idea of using aerial photographs in mapmaking and surveying). This event led an editor to issue a satirical lithograph of Nadar photographing Paris from a balloon (see below).

Later Nadar had built a gigantic balloon "Le Geant". It had a two-story gondola, capable of carrying up to fifty men, and its own darkroom.
1863 Nadar flew with this balloon from Paris to Hannover (Germany).

July 1, 1859

first flight over 1 000 km
earliest private airmail delivery in the USA

American John Wise (1808-1879) and three passengers (J. La Montain, Hyde, O. A. Gager), warming up for a transatlantic flight, that never occurred, flew with the balloon "Atlantic" from St. Louis to Henderson, New York in 20 hours and 40 min (the balloon was destroyed in a storm over the Ontario lake). They broke Green's record with a flight of 809 miles (1292 km). In the balloon was carried a bag of mail addressed to an agent of US Express Company.

August 17, 1859

first official (postal) balloon airmail flight

American John Wise (1808-1879) transported the first official U.S. airmail in a locked U.S. mailbag (123 letters and 23 circulars) aboard his hot-air balloon "Jupiter" from from Lafayette, Indiana to Crawfordsville, Indiana (he had hoped to reach New York City, to which the mail was addressed, or Philadelphia but lack of wind shortened the trip.) Upon landing, Wise transferred the mailbag to a railroad postal agent, who put it aboard a train to New York.

June 17, 1861

first telegraphic transmission from the air

The inventor and aeronaut Thaddeus Lowe (1832-1913) and representatives of the American Telegraph Company ascended from the grounds of the Columbia Armory in Washington, in specially equipped tethered balloon "Enterprise" to a height of 500 feet . Using telegraph equipment aboard the ship and cables that ran along one of the rigging wires to the ground and from there to the War Department and the White House, Lowe demonstrated the world's first telegraphic transmission from the air.

During the American Civil War tethered gas balloons were used by both the Union and Confederate armies for reconnaissance purposes, observation of troop movements and for charting the terrain. The first American aerostat designed by Lowe for military use was ready for deployment on the August 28. Lowe organized and directed a military balloon force of Union during this war and also self telegraphed the presence and position of Confederate infantry and heavy artillery from his tethered balloon "Intrepid".