On September 19, 1783, the Aérostat Réveillon was flown with the first living beings in a basket attached to the balloon: a sheep, a duck and a rooster. The sheep was believed to have a reasonable approximation of human physiology. The duck was expected t
On September 19, 1783, the Aérostat Réveillon was flown with the first living beings in a basket attached to the balloon: a sheep, 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 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, and obtained an altitude of about 1,500 feet. The craft landed safely after flying. Joseph-Michel Montgolfier (August 26, 1740 - June 26, 1810) and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier (January 6, 1745 - August 2, 1799) were the inventors of the Montgolfière-style hot air balloon, globe aérostatique. It was Joseph who first contemplated building machines when he observed laundry drying over a fire incidentally form pockets that billowed upwards. He made his first definitive experiments in 1782. The brothers decided to make a public demonstration of a balloon in order to establish their claim to its invention. On June 4, 1783, they flew their craft in front of a group of dignitaries. Its flight covered , lasted 10 minutes, and had an estimated altitude of 5,200-6,600 ft. The brothers succeeded in launching the first manned ascent, when Étienne made a tethered flight on October 15, 1783. Later, in December 1783, in recognition of their achievement, their father Pierre was elevated to the nobility and the hereditary appellation of de Montgolfier by King Louis XVI of France. At the time, the brothers believed they had discovered a new gas. However, in 1785, the buoyancy was shown to be caused by heated air, which is less dense than the surrounding atmosphere. The two brothers were honored by the
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