Before humans flew, the Montgolfiers tested it on a sheep, a duck and a rooster

On 19 September 1783 the Montgolfier brothers sent a sheep, a duck and a rooster aloft in a hot air balloon to see if animals could survive at altitude. Two months later, on 21 November, Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes became the first humans to fly, drifting nearly six miles over Paris in 25 minutes with no steering and no parachute.

— Richard Holmes, Falling Upwards: How We Took to the Air — Chapter 1, 2013
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