Ramona Marrow, age 11, of Charlotte, .To. Carolina, for her question:

Who first went up in a balloon?

This honor belongs to three members of the animal kingdom a sheep, a pig and a rooster. Eyewitness reports state that these pioneer balloon passengers stayed aloft for eight minutes and landed safely, except that during the excitement, the sheep kicked the rooster. This dramatic event took place in the fall of 1783, before the astonished eyes of Louis XV1 and the court of France.

In the Middle Ages, several persons thought that people could be lifted by balloons of hot air. But the Motitgolfier brothers of France were the first to make it work. After their first success with animal passengers, they prepared a hot air balloon capable cf lifting people. The first flight was manned by Pilatre de Rozier. So far as we know, he was the world's first balloonist. On October 15, 1783, he rose to the magnificent height of 80 feet, stayed aloft through four and a half dramatic minutes and landed safely.