Round the World....in a balloon

[Drbio]

Balloonist completes around-the-world trek


ST. LOUIS, Missouri (CNN) -- Adventurer Steve Fossett succeeded Tuesday on his sixth try to pilot a balloon solo around the world, crossing the meridian where he started his historic journey June 19, his ground crew at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, announced.

"In 10 years of attempts, Steve has had perhaps a dozen incidents that I would characterize as somewhere between very scary and absolutely terrifying," mission director Joe Ritchie said.

"After that long journey, Steve has crossed the finish line in his trip around the world."

And he did it much faster than the fictional Phileas Fogg's 80 days, accomplishing the arduous task on the 14th day of his trip.

Fossett crossed the invisible line at 117 degrees east longitude at about 9:40 p.m. (9:40 a.m. EDT), he told reporters via satellite phone.

"It's enormous relief and satisfaction," he said. "I've put everything into this, all of my efforts, all of my skills. I've taken the risks ... and finally after six flights I've succeeded."

Asked about how he marked the moment, the balloonist said he had a few bottles of beer on hand but couldn't do much celebrating yet.

"I'm saving that for the landing because there's no one to drink it with here," he said.

Fossett -- who has a long history of completing challenging feats -- said his next project would be to fly a glider into the stratosphere around the end of July.

But he said that he first wanted to concentrate on landing his balloon, the Spirit of Freedom.

Chief meteorologist Luc Trullemans said ground controllers expected Fossett to land at sunset Wednesday local time (Wednesday morning EDT) in south-central Australia.

"You will find nice fair weather, wind 55 knots to the northeast, and we will find some nice valley in the middle of nowhere in Australia where you can put down your balloon tomorrow," Trullemans told the balloonist.

Winds early Tuesday pushed the 58-year-old investment banker away from his expected landing site at Kalgoorlie, Australia, but Ritchie said winds later in the day nudged Fossett slightly north toward the Nullarbor Plain east of the target site.

In the final hours of the flight, Fossett was worn out from battling wicked weather over the Indian Ocean, Ritchie said.

"He really needs a little sleep," Ritchie said.

Strong winds over the Indian Ocean had propelled Fossett to speeds reaching 200 mph, a personal solo speed record for him, according to his control center. He was traveling about 60 mph at 27,000 feet as he completed the circumnavigation.

Fossett's other adventures have including swimming the English Channel, piloting a dog sled in the Iditarod race in Alaska, driving in the LeMans auto endurance race in France and finishing the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii.

In May, he and his crew of 12 broke the Trans-Mediterranean (Marseille, France, to Carthage, Tunisia) sailing record, giving him nine of the 10 fastest "outright" world sailing records, plus the 24-hour record.

But his quest to circle the world alone in a balloon -- one of the last great unfulfilled challenges in aviation -- had proved elusive, with earlier attempts falling short.

In March 1999, Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones became the first people to circumnavigate the globe in a balloon, but a solo balloonist had never accomplished the feat.


FYI:
Balloonist's background
Fossett holds world records in ballooning, sailing and flying airplanes. He also swam the English Channel in 1985, placed 47th in the Iditarod dog sled race in 1992 and participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans car race in 1996.

-- Source: The Associated Press