Remember early last year when we were besieged by strange, large balloons in our airspace- the kind of balloons that certain nations are using to spy on us or possibly manipulate the weather?

Okay let’s put those conspiracy theories aside for now. Hopefully everyone has seen a hot air balloon in flight at least once because they are majestic and otherworldly and quite calming to watch drifting around up in the blue sky above.

But have you ever wondered when the first one was invented? Or how much hot air is required to get them safely off the ground and ready for a flight around the skies? Or where they are stored when they aren’t being used? Our friends at SpareFoot were wondering the same thing, and the data they shared with us below is quite astonishing.

Supplemental– Baumgartner’s record setting Free Fall event utilized Hot Air Balloon to reach “edge of space”