Later that year, the French physicist Jean Pilatre de Rozier made the first manned balloon flight. While balloons could travel to high elevations, they could not travel on their own propulsion and were at the mercy of the prevailing winds.
All airships have solid gondolas, engine-powered propellers and solid tailfins.
Later, in 1900, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin of Germany invented the first rigid airship. The first Zeppelin had tail fins and rudders, and was powered by internal combustion engines . Several models of Zeppelins were built in the early 1900s. These vehicles were used for military and civilian purposes, including transatlantic travel. In 1962, the U.S. military stopped using blimps in their operations.