Balloons and its key to the future

After reading “Aloft” by Robert Doty, I found it fascinating that the evolution of aerial flight seemed to derive from the drive to create a land survey/aerial map. The creation of an air balloon led to many new ideas and dreams. The ability to fly made every man interested in what his environment looked like from above the horizon. In order to facilitate such images, photography had to be involved. I found it interesting how men were so determined to find a solution to taking photographs of the land from above. When this task had been accomplish, airplanes and military strategies were soon developing. I believe that without this determination, we would not be as capable of seeing our world from a higher view. It is amazing to see how we start from taking photographs from above to now taking photographs from space through a satellite. I can sympathize with the explorers thirst for exploration because when you think about the mysteries of the earth, it is almost impossible to not try to find out the countless answers there are to those mysteries. A question that is brought up during the reading was that, why were there no photographs found in the War Department Archives? If random photographic explorers could have access to land surveys, I would assume that the military would have access to all sorts of aerial views for war tactics. I believe that we are undermining the importance of our explorers. Today, we take advantage of Google earth and online maps. We forget how much effort it took the men of our past to sacrifice their lives to reach unattainable heights of exploration for the prosperity of the country