The first hot air balloon carried farm animals aloft
In 1783, the Montgolfier brothers launched the world's first hot air balloon with a sheep, duck, and rooster, proving flight was possible and paving the way for human aviation.
On September 19, 1783, the Montgolfier brothers launched the world's first hot air balloon carrying living creatures: a sheep, a duck, and a rooster. This unmanned flight, witnessed by King Louis XVI, soared 1,500 feet over the French countryside for eight minutes, proving that flight was possible without wings.
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