Parachute Timeline of Events

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Parachute

A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...

Timeline of Events

1797

10.22.1797

One thousand meters (3,200 feet) above Paris, André-Jacques Garnerin makes the first recorded parachute jump.

1912

3.1.1912

Albert Berry makes the first parachute jump from a moving airplane.

1919

4.19.1919

Leslie Irvin of the United States makes the first successful voluntary free-fall parachute jump using a new kind of self-contained parachute.

1967

4.24.1967

Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1 when its parachute fails to open. He is the first human to die during a space mission.