Who was the first human to fly as a passenger in a balloon?

The Montgolfier brothers, Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne, are credited with creating the first successful hot air balloon and conducting the first manned flight in one. This pivotal moment in aviation history took place in 1783 when they launched a balloon carrying a sheep, a duck, and a rooster. Shortly after, on September 19, 1783, they conducted the first human flight when Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier ascended in their balloon.

The significance of the Montgolfier brothers lies in their pioneering contributions to aeronautics, marking the transition from theoretical concepts of flight to practical application. Their inventions opened the door for further developments in aviation. Other options, such as Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, who played a significant role in ballooning during the American Civil War, and the Wright brothers, celebrated for powered flight, came after the Montgolfier brothers and thus were not the first to achieve this milestone. Daedalus, while a figure from Greek mythology associated with flight, does not pertain to historical events of ballooning or human flight in the same context.