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The entire world has watched with keen interest the progress made by the three balloonists to circumnavigate the globe. Daily progress reports were reported on television and in the print media the world over. We reproduce herewith some of the reports that were published in newspapers in India. There is no doubt that the reports, as put out by the major news agencies, were more detailed and what were published were only edited reports. Not withstanding such editing the stories as published give a comprehensive account of what the three adventurers faced and how it all ended. We reproduce the reports including the captions as they appeared in the media.
AROUND THE WORLD : BRANSON, FOSSETT AND LOTS OF HOT AIR
British tycoon Richard Branson took off in a balloon from a military base in Marrakesh on Friday, 18th Dec 1999 on his third attempt at circumnavigating the world, an AFP correspondent on the scene reported. He was accompanied on the ICO Global Challenge balloon by his former round-the-world rival Steve Fossestt, and a technician, Per Lindstrand. The 40,000 cubic metre balloon and 14 tonne cabin rose gently to disappear behind the Atlas mountains. Before takeoff, Branson said he planned to rise quickly to a height of around 9,000 metres to catch the powerful jet stream winds which could propel the balloon around the world in two or three weeks. The $ 5 million adventure, financed by the US-based ICO Global Communications, should take the team across north Africa, northern Turkey, close to the Iraqi border, and then to India and the southeast Asian peninsula. The balloon, which carries six tonnes of propane, is then due to fly over the island of Broneo and to cross the Pacific Ocean to reach Vancouver, on Canada's eastern seaboard. It will cross southern Greenland, and if all goes well, head for the British Isles. The three balloonists hope to complete the trip in less than two weeks. They are confined to a space of about three cubic metres. The men hope to complete their circumnavigation in eight days but fear delays due to the airstrikes on Iraq. They will have to drink some five litres of water a day to prevent dehydration. The cabin has a microwave oven to heat their meals of fresh vegetables and fruit, supplemented with vitamins and amino acids. Sanitary facilities are similar to those found on commercial airlines. The team will train daily; using exercises based on those of NASA astronauts. Among their rewards if they succeed in being the first to float non-stop around the world in a lighter-than-aircraft will be $ 1 million from the US brewery Anheuser-Busch. Branson, making his third attempt, failed in 1996 when he was forced to land in Algeria less than 24 hours after taking off from Marrakesh. A planned trip last year was aborted before it got off the ground. The balloon envelope broke away from its guy-ropes during inflation. Three days later it fell to the ground near the Algerian village of Tindouf. For Steve Fossett, this is a fifth attempt at the feat. His latest attempt, in August, ended when his balloon was damaged in a storm over the Pacific, close to the Great Barrier Reef, 10 days after his departure from Mendoza in Argentina. Fossett already holds eight ballooning records, including those gained by a solo crossing of the Pacific and the four longest distances flown by a balloon.
(From an AFP report)
BRANSON TEAM ENTERS LIBYA, ALL WELL SO FAR
British tycoon Richard Branson, Chicago millionaire Steve Fossett and teammate Per Lindstrand sailed into Libyan airspace on Saturday on day two of their landmark quest to travel around the world in a balloon. "The flight is going very well", said Jackie McQuillan, spokeswoman for ICO Global, a mobile telephone company supporting the voyage. Branson was suffering from what McQuillan called a "sore throat", but all three adventures were in good spirits after a breakfast of vitamin-packed food packages of the kind that astronauts eat in space. The 61-metre-high balloon crossed into Libyan airspace on Saturday and by evening was expected to fly over Turkey after passing over the Mediterranean Sea and eastern Cyprus, McQuillan said. The balloon was cruising at about 28,400 feet on Saturday and travelling at about 186 kmph.
(From an AP report)
FLIGHT SO FAR MAGNIFICENT, SAYS BRANSON
British balloonist Richard Branson said on Sunday, 20th Dec 1999 his round-the-world record attempt had been a "magnificent flight" so far despite getting dangerously close to Iraq. The entrepreneur and his American former rival Steve Fossett were crossing Uzbekistan in their hot air balloon late on Sunday at the end of the third day of their transglobal attempt. The balloon is now heading southeast for Afghanistan, flying at an altitude of nearly 9,100 metres and a speed of 96 km per hour. "They've covered 3,000 miles", a spokeswoman at the London control centre said. The two adventures earlier safely negotiated thunderstorms and a narrow corridor between Iran and Russia to cross into Turkey and make their way over the Caspian Sea, the London control centre said. "It's been an absolutely magnificent flight so far", Mr Branson told Sky Television. "Somebody was looking over us last night. We not only missed the thunderstorm but also missed Iraq, Iran and Russia", he said.
(From a Reuters report)
CHINAGATE HITS BRANSON
British tycoon Richard Branson on Tuesday 22nd December 1998 swept across prohibited Chinese airspace in his bid to circle the globe in a balloon, despite orders from authorities to land in rugged Tibet. British officials in Beijing, in a flurry of last-minute negotiations with China to allow the attempted record-setting journey to proceed, said the balloon had been unable to obey the demand it land in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa. "The balloon was asked to land at Lhasa airport but it was unable to do so", a British diplomat in Beijing said. "It is now past that point and stuck over mountainous terrain where there is no suitable landing place", she said, adding that Chinese authorities were aware of the situation but so far there had been no reaction. Mr Branson's balloon strayed into a no-fly zone over Tibet, after being forced to alter course by US and British strikes on Iraq on Saturday. "We consider that it's too dangerous at the moment, because it's night in China. We are looking at every possible way to get out of this situation", a spokesman for the ICO Global Challenger team in Britain said. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman earlier on Tuesday called the balloon's course "unacceptable", saying it had violated an agreement with Chinese authorities which had permitted it to transit another area of China to the south. "China regrets that the balloon did not abide by the agreement and will not take responsibility for the consequences," he said, while ruling out the possibility that China would shoot the balloon down. Mr Branson and his team, American Steve Fossett and Swede Per Lindstrand were positioned at 29.4 degrees north latitude and 93.6 degrees east longitude at 5 pm, according to the expedition's Internet website at http://www.icoglobal.com. The balloon was flying at an altitude of around 30,000 feet at a speed of 64 kmph, heading due east towards the southwestern province of Sichuan. The crew had been aiming to get south of the 26th parallel, back onto a flight path specified by Beijing, but had been forced off course by the US and British air strikes on Iraq, a spokesman at the mission control centre in Britain said. High peaks and air turbulence made maneuvering all but impossible, and the balloon was inching still further into the no-fly zone. "We are very embarrassed about our position", project manager David Partridge said by telephone. The balloon crossed over the border into Chinese air space from Nepal at 29,000 feet late on Monday. It then drifted some 400 km north of the agreed air space corridor which Chinese authorities had given it permission to use. Mr Partridge said the team was trying to avoid dangerous air movements around the Himalayan peaks, some of which were 24,000 feet above sea level. "It a balloon gets trapped in air curling over the peaks it can get slammed into the ground", he said. British sources in Beijing said Chinese officials behind the scenes were placing great importance on the team's safety.
(From an AFP report)
CHINA LETS BRANSON FLY ON
China has told the British ambassador in Beijing that British tycoon Richard Branson can continue his attempt to fly round the world in a balloon, a British foreign office spokesman said on Tuesday. "The Chinese government have allowed the balloon to continue its flight across China but have requested it to leave Chinese airspace as soon as possible', said the spokesman. "The safety of the crew was always paramount to us, so we are very pleased". ICO Global Challenger team spokesman mike Kendrick said he had just relayed the news given by the British foreign office to Mr Branson in the balloon. "He said : `Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant,"' Mr Kendrick told a press conference. He added that leaving Chinese airspace as quickly and as fast as possible was a request "we are happy to comply with". Planners in London were plotting a course so as to pick up the jet stream over the Pacific as quickly as possible. "We are so pleased", Mr Branson declared. "If our jobs weren't so important, we'd be getting drunk". He also joked and said that: "Gosh, maybe they (the crew) can start enjoying this flight now".
(From an AFP report)
BRANSON TRYING TO AVOID NORTH KOREA
Having won last-minute permission from Beijing to continue his round-the-world balloon bid, British tycoon Richard Branson was heading out of China on Wednesday 23rd December 1998 on course to avoid isolated Stalinist North Korea. "North Korea will be safely avoided", a spokesman said by telephone from mission control headquarters in Britain. Mr Branson and his two co-pilots, American Steve Fossett and Swede Per Lindstrand, would leave China and head for South Korea and then southern Japan before starting the long journey over the Pacific Ocean, he added. Unpredictable winds across China had raised concerns that the balloon would be carried willy-nilly into North Korean air space, even though Mr Branson and his crew had never intended to overfly the country. The balloon has been substantially astray since being forced to skirt around US and British bombing raids on Iraq.
(From an AFP report)
BRANSON BEGINS RISKY PACIFIC LEG OF VOYAGE
British tycoon Richard Branson's hot air balloon was speeding across the Pacific on Thursday on project officials described as the most hazardous leg of his round-the-world record bid. Branson and his co-pilots, American Steve Fossett and Swede Per Lindstrand, were in a powerful jet stream which they hoped would propel them to the west coast of North America on Christmas Day, the officials said. The trio, bidding to make the first non-stop balloon flight around the world, were in buoyant mood for the pacific crossing, a spokesman at the project's London headquarters said. "They've picked up speed and everything is going well. At about 0330 GMT they were about 200 miles southeast of Tokyo and travelling at about 30,000 feet," the spokesman said. Current estimates were that Branson and company - who launched their venture from Morocco on December 18 - would reach North America's West Coast on Christmas Day. Exactly where was unclear. "It is been the most magnificent trip," Branson enthused to the BBC in an interview from his balloon on Wednesday.
(From a Reuters report)
PACIFIC WEATHER FORCES BRANSON TO ABANDON BALLOON BID
By : Audrey Woods Three adventures abandoned their bid on Friday to be the first to fly non-stop around the world in a balloon after hitting dangerous weather over the Pacific ocean. "I'm afraid the weather has beaten us," said the team's project director Mike Kendrick, adding that the team was planing to bring the balloon down towards Honolulu to attempt a beach or sea landing. He said that they would wait until it is dawn there for the best landing conditions. The balloonists, British tycoon Richard Branson, American millionaire Steve Fossett and Swede Per Lindstrand were feeling deflated like the balloon is going to be in a few hours, Kendrick said, speaking from the project's control centre in England. "It's a bit of bad luck, we almost made it. I think we missed the weather by an hour," he said. The safety of the team, all veteran balloonists, is not in jeopardy and the landing is being treated a non-emergency. The balloonists got driven into a low pressure system overnight in the Pacific. They had been moving the craft up and down between 1,830 metres and 8,230 metres about 322 km off Hawaii in an effort to find a fast enough easterly wind to carry them to the US. They had picked up an easterly wind, but at 14 knots, it was not enough to get them out of trouble. Mr Kendrick said there was no chance of any stronger winds soon and that they would have been stuck in the depression for a week. "By the time weathermen finished their work and analysed all the information, it was quite easy to see that no hanging around would produce a good result. It is time to cut our losses," Kendrick added. Branson outlined the last hours of the struggle in a statement read out by Kendrick to a press conference at the control centre. "We raced across the Pacific in winds of up to 322 kmph but ended up hitting a solid trough from one end to the other," Branson said. The team plans to return home to spend what is left of the Christmas holiday with their families and friends. If the balloonists had made the US West Coast they would have broken the balloon distance record which American Fossett set in an earlier attempt to circumnavigate the globe earlier this year. It was the treacherous Pacific, which ended that venture, forcing him to ditch hundreds of miles from the coast in shark-infested waters. Balloon pilots navigate by changing the lift of the balloon to ascend or descend into different wind systems, but cannot make precise plans for their course and speeds. The voyage of the 83-metre-high, hot air and helium balloon began in Marakesh, Morocco, on December 18, aiming to land in Western Europe. Before hitting bad weather in the Pacific, the crew faced diplomatic problems. The team secured permission from 97 countries for overflights and initially had only four refusals - Iran, Iraq, Russia and North Korea. Last Friday, Libya withdrew permission to fly over its territory and only reversed the decision after a personal plea from Branson to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Then, in conditions marred by thunderstorms, the crew had to manoeuvre the craft through narrow gaps between no-fly territories, including war-torn Iraq and negotiations took place over several days earlier this week with Chinese authorities after the balloon drifted into unauthorised airspace. The Chinese asked the balloonists to land at an airfield, but the balloon overshot the site and could not come down anywhere else. Finally, with the help of British diplomats, the balloonists had won Chinese permission to continue. Earlier on Friday, the support team had said in London that Richard Branson was "determined to fight on." Another member of the support team had put the chances of having to ditch the balloon at 50 per cent when Kendrick said the balloon was around 320 km from Honolulu. The US Coast Guard said it had dispatched a plane to take wind measurements and help the balloonists make a decision.
(Story based on reports received from AP and AFP)
AFTER PLUNGING INTO THE PACIFIC, BRANSON TAKES A BATH
British tycoon Richard Branson's dream of a round-the-world balloon record may be shattered but on Saturday he was delighted to get an unexpected Christmas treat - a good soak in the bath. "Right now I'm just delighted to be alive and to have had a nice long bath.," Branson told BBC Radio in an interview from Hawaii. "We had a most magnificent adventure for seven wonderful days," he said, looking back on the high flying venture that had to be aborted on Friday because the hot air balloon couldn't get out of a troublesome low pressure area over the Pacific. "Ballooning is a battle against the elements. If the wind doesn't want to go where you want to go, then steering around it." Asked whether he would have another shot at becoming the first balloonist to fly non-stop around the world, Branson said: 'I'm honestly not sure today. Normally after these trips my most immediate reaction is never again and I suspect that's what it should be but it's just too soon to decide really." Branson and his two co-pilots - American Steve Fossett and Swede Per Lindstrand - were plucked from the sea off Hawaii on Friday after they aborted their round-the-world bid. Two US Coast Guard helicopters winched the trio to safety after they jumped into the water from their capsule, which was dragged bouncing across rough seas for a couple of miles by the giant balloon. All three were unhurt but Branson said that when the capsule failed to separate from the balloon when they ditched into the Pacific, they had been "holding on for dear life." "Obviously we are disappointed about not making it when we had it in our grasp," Branson said after arriving at a coast guard station on Hawaii's Oahu island. Lindstrand said: "We were so close. Another three days and we would have made it." The balloon, which took off from Morocco on December 18, had travelled some 13,120 km - about half the distance of its intended journey - when Branson decided to abandon the record bid. Branson, head of the Virgin Group business empire, said the low pressure through was "like a solid brick wall." East winds taking the balloon to the US coast turned south, and with no way through and only four or five days' fuel left, the trio were forced to abandon their flight and head for the safety of Hawaii. Crossing the world's biggest ocean was always going to be the most dangerous and daunting hurdle for Branson and his colleagues. But until then, the biggest headaches had been political. Over China on Tuesday, the balloon drifted off an agreed course. Beijing ordered the balloon to land but after the intervention of British Prime Minister Tony Blair and others, the Chinese relented and allowed the balloon to float on. It then managed to avoid North Korea, which had refused permission to enter its airspace.
(From a Reuters report)
BRANSON LOST $ 300,000 BET WHEN HE DITCHED
British tycoon Richard Branson was undaunted on Saturday by the failure of his third round-the-world balloon record attempt - despite losing a $ 300,000 bet on his latest exploit. "I think the most important thing is that in the last seven days we've just had the greatest adventure of our lifetimes," Branson told reporters at a news conference with his two co-pilots - American Steve Fossett and Swede Per Lindstrand. The three were plucked from the sea off Hawaii on Friday by US Coast Guard helicopters as bad weather forced them to abort their bid to be the first to fly nonstop around the world in a hot-air balloon. They were winched to safety after jumping into the water from their capsule, which was dragged bouncing across the rough seas for miles by the attached balloon. All were unhurt. Fossett, a millionaire Chicago stock broker who teamed up with Britain's best-known entrepreneur after two unsuccessful solo record attempts this year, said Branson had bet $ 3000,000 with British bookmakers, who were giving odds of 10-1 against them, that they would succeed this time. "If he won, it would have been a $ 3 million prize which he was going to contribute to his charities," Fossett said.
(From a Reuters report)
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OTHER ARTICLES OF ASI JANUARY'99 ISSUE
| News In Brief | Letters To The Editor | World Records | | Around The World Attempt By Branson And His Team | | Next Balloon Will Fly On Edge Of Space | | World Aerobatic Championships - August 1998 | | Patrick Paris - A Profile of a Champion | | A Look At The Aircraft Of The Next Millennium | 
More articles on Ballooning
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