Flying Animals

On September 19, 1783, the Montgolfier brothers let the first living beings be lifted by a hot-air balloon, namely: a sheep, a hen and a duck. They made a flight which lasted 8 minutes, from Versailles, with Lodewijk XVI as observer and reached a maximum height of 500 metres and landed, unharmed, in the forests of Vaucresson, 3.5 kilometres from their starting point.