The sheep carried aboard the Montgolfier brothers’ 1783 balloon was named Montauciel.
Montauciel flew from Versailles on 19 September 1783 in a balloon carrying a sheep, a duck and a rooster. The name is French for “climb to the sky,” an appropriate nickname for an animal taking part in one of aviation’s earliest experiments.
The flight was intended to establish whether living beings could survive the conditions encountered above the ground. Its success helped persuade officials that human passengers could soon attempt a free flight.
Montauciel is often remembered simply as “the sheep,” and some accounts omit the name altogether. The animal’s flight preceded the first untethered human balloon journey by roughly two months, making it a distinct milestone rather than the beginning of manned flight.