Lagâri Hasan Çelebi

Lagâri Hasan Çelebi was an Ottoman scientist, engineer and aviator who, according to the account written by traveller Evliya Çelebi, made a successful crewed rocket flight. Evliya Çelebi reported that in 1633, Lagari Hasan Çelebi blasted off from Sarayburnu, (the promontory below the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul) in a 7-winged rocket propelled by 50 okka (140 lbs) of gunpowder. The flight was said to have been undertaken at the time of the birth of Sultan Murad IV's daughter. As Evliya Celebi wrote, Lagari proclaimed before launching his craft "O my sultan! Be blessed, I am going to talk to Jesus!"; after ascending in the rocket, he landed in the sea, swimming ashore and joking "O my sultan! Jesus sends his regards to you!"; he was rewarded by the Sultan with silver and the rank of sipahi in the Ottoman army. Evliya Çelebi also mentioned another aviation pioneer, Hezârfen Ahmed Çelebi, making a flight by glider a year earlier.