Two hundred years of flight in America: A bicentennial survey
The first recorded balloon ascension in America took place on June 19, 1784, when an unmanned balloon was raised in a public demonstration at Bladensburg, Maryland. On June 24, 1784, a thirteen-year-old boy ascended in the same balloon. The history of actual flight during the nineteenth century was entirely concerned with balloons except for several gliders and models leading to the coming of the airship and the aircraft. The history of practical flight in America begins in the twentieth century. The described developments related to aerostatics are concerned with balloons, rigid airships, and blimps. In a review of the evolution of aeronautics, attention is given to general aviation and its search for a market, trends in military aeronautics, and commercial aviation. It is pointed out that American air transport had its birth on New Year's Day, 1914, at Tampa Bay, Florida. The evolution of astronautics during the period from 1957 to 1976 is also examined, taking into account scientific satellites, the Apollo project, the exploration of the planets with the aid of unmanned spacecraft, strategic reconnaissance satellites, missile alarm satellites, instrumental satellites for detecting nuclear and thermonuclear explosions, weather satellites, communications satellites, and earth resource survey and geodetic satellites.