The HB-SIA craft was piloted by Bertrand Piccard, a co-founder of the effort, who is perhaps best known for being the first person to circumnavigate the globe in a hot-air balloon, in 1999.

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I've gone up in a hot-air balloon, traveled extensively, worked for good causes in my church and taught hundreds of children to read during my 23-plus-year career as a special education teacher for Massachusetts public schools.

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There have been several this year alone: the largest handprint in Kuwait, the longest table in Dubai or the most people to parachute-jump from a hot-air balloon.

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In 1783, brothers Etienne and Joseph Montgolfier made the first public demonstration of a hot-air balloon.

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