The 1897 Attempt to Reach the North Pole in a Balloon

In the late 19th century, the race was on to be the first to reach the North Pole. Most expeditions used ships, sled dogs, and substantial crews and still couldn't get there. Swedish engineer Salomon Andrée had a better idea- why not just fly to the North Pole? Andrée proposed taking a hydrogen balloon to the Arctic to cut the travel time way down. His idea was to fly the balloon with long ropes that dragged against the ground to make the device more controllable, and he would steer with attached wings. The idea sounded simple, but turned out to be anything but. 

Andrée and two crew members, physics professor Nils Strindberg and engineer Knut Frænkel, took off from Danes Island on July 11, 1897. Nothing went right. First, the long ropes became tangled, and had be abandoned. Then the balloon leaked hydrogen. Andrée sent reports back by homing pigeon, but then all communication ceased and the balloon crashed three days into the journey. It was in 1930 that the three men were found, far away from the balloon. The story of the Arctic balloon expedition was told in Andrée's diary and in pictures from the camera they had with them. You can read about the expedition and their desperate attempt to reach civilization at Amusing Planet.