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An aircraft is a vehicle which is able to fly through the air (or the atmosphere of a planet). Objects which are not supported by the air, such as most rockets and missiles, are not aircraft. All the human activity which surrounds aircraft is called aviation. Manned aircraft are flown by a pilot. Unmanned vehicles are often called drones, remotely piloted vehicles (RPV) or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). Small hot air balloons called sky lanterns date back to the 3rd century BC and were only the second type of aircraft to fly, the first being kites. Originally a balloon was any aerostat, while the term airship was used for large powered aircraft designs—usually fixed-wing—though none had yet been built. The advent of powered balloons, called dirigible balloons, and later of rigid hulls allowing a great increase in size, began to change the way these words were used. Huge powered aerostats, characterized by a rigid outer framework and separate aerodynamic skin surrounding the gas bags, were produced, the Zeppelins being the largest and most famous. There were still no aeroplanes or non-rigid balloons large enough to be called airships, so "airship" came to be synonymous with these monsters. Then several accidents, such as the Hindenburg disaster in 1937, led to the demise of these airships. Nowadays a "balloon" is an unpowered aerostat, whilst an "airship" is a powered one.
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