Balloon Voyage

I want to welcome each and every balloon enthusiast to Philadelphia. Thank you for coming here this morning to commemorate the first balloon voyage in the United States. On January 9, 1793, at ten o'clock in the morning, a silk balloon lifted into the skies above this city, which was, at the time, the capital of the country. According to the original records of the flight, the voyage lasted forty-six minutes, from its departure in Philadelphia to its landing across the Delaware River in New Jersey. Though our pilots today will try to approximate the original landing site, they're at the mercy of the winds, so who knows where they'll drift off to. Even the balloonist in 1793 experienced some uncertain weather that day. There were clouds, fog, and mist in various directions. Our reenactment promises to be nothing less than spectacular. The yellow balloon directly behind me is five stories high. It's inflated with helium, unlike the original, which was filled with hydrogen and, unbeknownst to the pilot, potentially explosive. Gas-filled models are pretty uncommon now because of the extremely high cost, so the eighty other balloons in today's launch are hot air, heated by propane burners. These balloons are from all over the country.