Madeleine-Sophie Blanchard the first female aeronaut

Born in 1778 Madeleine-Sophie Blanchard was a French female aeronaut with more than 60 ascents in a gas balloon under her name. After the death of her husband, who was the inventor and pilot of a gas balloon, Blanchard decided to become a aeronaut herself. Blanchard was famous across France and even performed for Napoleon who named her "Aeronaut of the Official Festivals". Unfortunately she died in a flying accident in 1819. In one of her flights in Paris, fireworks ignited her gas balloon and that resulted in a crash into a nearby house.