A hot air balloon is partially inflated before flight at Longleat Estate, Warminster, England. Using firstly cold air from a gas-powered fan, before its propane burners are used for final inflation, one of the ground crew assists in the process by pulling at the fragile synthetic material so that the volume within the whole 'envelope' can fill without damage and it's spectrum arc of colours are becoming rainbow-like. The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. The first manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a balloon created by the Montgolfier brothers in 1783. In today's sport balloons the envelope is generally made from nylon fabric and the mouth of the balloon (closest to the burner flame) is made from fire resistant material such as Nomex.
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