June 4: On This Day in 1784 - 1st Free Flight by a Woman

June 4, 1784:  Marie Thible, of Lyons, France, became the first woman in history to fly in a free balloon. She was accompanied by pilot Monsieur Fleurant, as they drifted across Lyons in a balloon named Le Gustave (for King Gustav III of Sweden, who was watching the ascent). The balloon reached a height of 8,500 feet in a flight that lasted about 45 minutes. The even occurred one day short of a year after the first flight in history by a man.

June 3: On This Day on 1946 - The First Bikini on Display

June 3, 1946: On this day, the first bikini was displayed in Paris. The bikini was invented by Louis Reard, a French designer. He named it after the site of the Operation Crossroads nuclear weapon test in the Pacific, Bikini Atoll. He explained the name by saying that the "burst of excitement" created by his design would be like a nuclear device.

Reard and model wearing one of his first bikinis