On 19 September 1783 the Aerostat Reveillon was flown with the first living beings in a basket attached to the balloon: a sheep, called Montauciel (Climb-to-the-sky), a duck and a rooster. The sheep was believed to have a reasonable approximation of human physiology. The duck was expected to be unharmed by being lifted aloft. It was included as a control for effects created by the aircraft rather than the altitude. The rooster was included as a further control as it was a bird that did not fly at high altitudes. This demonstration was performed before a huge crowd at the royal palace in Versailles, before King Louis XVI of France and Queen Marie Antoinette. The flight lasted approximately eight minutes, covered two miles (3 km), and obtained an altitude of about 1,500 feet (460 m). The craft landed safely after flying.More HERE.
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There is a beautiful scene depicting this in the TV Mini Series "John Adams". Franklin, Jefferson and Adams were all present to witness the awesome event...
It is also in the film JEFFERSON IN PARIS.
Here's an item for the Michael Caine "Not many people know that ..." file: one of the Montgolfier brothers was an ancestor of Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937), the eminent French organist and composer, whose Toccata has concluded thousands of wedding ceremonies and about 2,481,376 recitals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles-Marie_Widor
Now that's something that only you would know, Rob.....
Widor would apparently write on his manuscripts the words "Soar above", as an allusion (for those familiar with his family-tree) to his distinguished ancestors.
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