Matter of Fact Monday: SKY

A co-worker of mine is heavily into skydiving, so my post for this week's Matter of Fact Monday theme of SKY is about the parachute.

1. André Garnerin, on Oct. 22 of 1797, gave the first public demonstrations of the parachute. He was the first person to use theme regularly and successfully.

2. Garnerin, who leapt from a hot-air balloon just over a half-mile up, did not include an air vent at the top of his parachute, so he oscillated wildly in his descent.

3. The intent behind the invention: It was originally designed to enable people to escape from the early balloons during an emergency and to land safely.

SOURCE: Reference.com