The parachute was invented by Francois Blanchard, a French aeronaut. The word “parachute” is actually French and means to prepare for a fall. The main purpose of the parachute is to slow the motion of a person through the atmosphere by creating drag. Original parachutes were made of silk but now they are composed of nylon. In order to be called a parachute the material must slow the vertical speed of an object or person by 75 percent or more.Is this new to you? Catch up here

The parachute had previously been invented by Louis Sebastian Lenormand in France but it was Blanchard that used the parachute as a safety device. Since this time new designs made the parachute much more compact and light. Successful tests using parachutes were conducted off the Eiffel tower before World War One. These parachutes did not have any frames and were eventually vented which increased stability during the fall.

Parachutes proved to be very important to the war as they allowed soldiers to quickly escape from observation balloons. These balloons were used for to detect artillery. These French chutes were the first type of parachute that are considered modern. Anything prior to this was not overly successful and more theoretical than functional.