Q 01/05

What fuel do most modern hot air balloon burners burn?

A) Hydrogen

B) Propane

C) Natural gas

D) Kerosene

Answer · why

B) Propane

It is stored as a liquid in pressure vessels much like forklift cylinders; each burner can produce 2 to 3 megawatts of heat.

Q 02/05

In which Ardèche town did the paper-making Montgolfier brothers develop and first demonstrate their balloon?

A) Lyon

B) Annonay

C) Grenoble

D) Avignon

Answer · why

B) Annonay

Joseph got the idea watching laundry billow upward as it dried over a fire; he ran his first experiments while living in Avignon.

Q 03/05

Who made the first untethered manned hot air balloon flight in Paris on 21 November 1783 with the Marquis d'Arlandes?

A) Vincenzo Lunardi

B) Jean-Pierre Blanchard

C) Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier

D) Jacques Charles

Answer · why

C) Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier

The 25-minute flight from the Château de la Muette covered about nine kilometres, and he had to douse embers scorching the fabric with a sponge and hi...

Q 04/05

King Louis XVI originally decreed that which group would be the first people to fly in a balloon?

A) Palace servants

B) Army volunteers

C) Cloistered monks

D) Condemned criminals

Answer · why

D) Condemned criminals

De Rozier and d'Arlandes petitioned, with help from the Duchess de Polignac, for the honour to go to men of higher status.

Q 05/05

Which three animals flew at Versailles on 19 September 1783, in the first balloon flight with living passengers?

A) A dog, a cat and a pigeon

B) A pig, a rabbit and a crow

C) A goat, a goose and a hen

D) A sheep, a duck and a rooster

Answer · why

D) A sheep, a duck and a rooster

The sheep, named Montauciel ('Climb-to-the-sky'), stood in for human physiology while the birds were controls; all landed safely after eight minutes.