US adventurer Steve Fossett on Sunday launched his balloon from
the Western Australian desert in another attempt to become the
first to fly a balloon solo around the world.
 |
| US
millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett's balloon is inflated
by his ground-crew under a full moon in the township of Northam,
located 100 kilometres east of Perth in Western Australia,
August 5, 2001. Fossett is near lifting off for his sixth
attempt to complete the first solo circumnavigation of the
Earth. [Reuters] |
The giant high-altitude balloon, bathed in the desert's golden
morning light, drifted slowly into the sky above Northam, a small
mining town 100 km (62 miles) east of Perth, just after 7.00 a.m.
(2300 GMT).
Fossett had delayed inflating the aircraft for six and a half
hours due to unfavourable winds, but with time running out before
the arrival of the morning's hot thermals, he gave the order to
fill the balloon with helium for a dawn launch.
Fossett waved to around 100 townsfolk as he entered the capsule
for an eastward circumnavigation that he expects will take 15
days.
"I am a bit nervous about the first night," Fossett
said before take-off.
"On the first night I will find out if everything works,
if there are any leaks in the balloon, if there are any failures
in communications and if the all-important heating works,"
he said.
The millionaire former stockbroker has made a series of failed
attempts to fly solo in a balloon around the world.
The last attempt to inflate the giant balloon for a launch on
June 17 from the Australian gold mining town of Kalgoorlie ended
in disaster when a freak wind tore it apart.
Fossett's fourth solo bid ended in near disaster in 1998, when
a thunderstorm off Australia's northeastern coast shredded his
canopy and sent him plummeting 29,000 feet (9,000 metres) into
the Coral Sea. He was unhurt.
This year Fossett, 57, decided to launch in western Australia,
some 600 km (400 miles) from the Indian Ocean, to have a better
chance of avoiding thunderstorms in the South Pacific and gain
time to detect problems while still over land.
(Agencies)
Updated: 2001-08-08 01:00
