June 3 is considered to be Happy parachute birthday. The first slow landing device was demonstrated on this date.

The parachute’s birthday in history

On June 3, 1785, the French inventor Francois Blanchard showed London the parachute he had developed. A dog was successfully landed on the device. A year later, Blanchard repeated the experiment again, but now it involved a ram.

Andre-Jacques Garnerin was the first European volunteer to jump with a parachute. On October 22, 1797, he landed softly, jumping from a height of about a kilometer above the French park of Monceau.

The theoretical basis for the use of parachutes was laid down by Leonardo da Vinci at the end of the 15th century. But the lack of need for such devices did not allow the idea to develop – there was simply nowhere to jump from.

The purpose of the parachute

Currently, parachutes are used in various fields, for example, as sports equipment or as a means of landing from the air. There are also parachutes for braking and for landing cargo.