①Since the first man-looked up at the flying birds, countless successes have been achieved on the way up to the sky. From the stones thrown into the air to airships of all kinds, pioneers of humans never failed to let their imagination run wild.
②Stories of pioneers go back to centuries ago.
③Kite flying in China dates back to the 5th century BC and is thought to be the earliest example of man-made flight.
④From the 3rd century BC, the sky lantern(灯笼) was known in China. Many people believe that it was invented by Zhuge Liang in the war. Some say he wrote a message on a sky lantern for help, while others believe sky lanterns were used to drive the enemies away.
⑤Whichever is true, humans have never stopped, and they never will. In modern times, new fields are being explored(探索).
⑥In 1993, the world's largest hot air airship was built. The AS-300 carried an underslung raft (悬挂式木筏). It allowed a team of French scientists to carry out their treetop researches without too much harm to the rain forest.
⑦On May 15, 2022, Chinese scientists sent up the latest model of "Jimu No. 1", China's self-developed airship, to collect weather information on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
⑧The airship would work at a world-record altitude(海拔) of 9,032 meters. It was the first time an airship of its size had reached this height, even higher than that of the 8,849-meter-tall Mount Qomolangma, the highest mountain in the world.
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