20 wonderful photos of the largest ballooning event in the world.

From the festival founder's boast at a party in 1971 that he could fly his newly bought balloon, to an annual celebration that now draws more than half a millio

From its humble beginning in 1972 when 13 hot-air balloons ascended from an Albuquerque shopping center parking lot to a stunning annual gathering of 500-plus a

Discusses how, when, and where hot air balloons should be flown. Also provides a history of ballooning including an account of the first successful transatlanti