Parachuting

Parachuting, or skydiving, is the action sport of exiting an aircraft and returning to earth with the aid of gravity while using a parachute to slow down during the final part of the descent. It may or may not involve a certain amount of free-fall, a time during which the parachute has not been deployed and the body gradually accelerates to terminal velocity. The history of skydiving starts with Andre-Jacques Garnerin who made successful parachute descents from a hot-air balloon (in the gondola of the balloon) in 1797. The first recorded descent by parachute after exiting the balloon's gondola took place in San Francisco in 1887. The military developed parachuting technology as a way to save aircrews from emergencies aboard balloons and aircraft in flight, later as a way of delivering soldiers to the battlefield. Early competitions date back to the 1930s, and it became an international sport in 1952.