The first human flight in a hot air balloon was. in 1783. The development of a parachute seems to have followed soon after. It makes sense that if a balloon will descend slowly because of the air inside, even when it's no longer hot, a similar piece of fabric can slow a falling person. However, the first parachutes were not all fabric, but were made of fabric stretched over a frame to keep its shape, like an umbrella.
Robert Cocking was a British artist, and a big fan of hot air balloons. He was in Paris in 1797 to watch André-Jacques Garnerin demonstrate a parachute that brought him to the ground after he released the hot air balloon it was attached to. Cocking wanted to do that, and spent years designing his own parachute. It was also supported with struts like an umbrella, but the fabric was cone-shaped to hold more air. It was honestly a good idea, but was not as thoroughly tested as it should have been before Cocking tried it out in 1837, at 5,000 feet above the ground with a crowd watching. Read what happened the day Robert Cocking became the first death attributed to a parachute at Amusing Planet. -via Strange Company
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