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) | 美國探險家史蒂夫-福塞8月5日在澳大利亞西部的沙漠中啟動了他的熱氣球，開始了他若干次只身駕駛熱氣球環游世界失敗后的又一次嘗試。 早晨7點，沐浴在清晨沙漠金色的陽光下，福塞的這只巨大的高空熱氣球緩緩升入諾瑟姆鎮上空。諾瑟姆是一個位于珀斯東部約100公里的產煤的小鎮。 由于當天風向并不如人意，福塞將點火的時間推遲了6個半小時。不過他還是在早晨7點鐘下令給氣球充上氦氣，趕在上午的沙漠熱浪到來之前啟程了。 福塞在進入熱氣球艙時，向周圍近百名的小鎮居民揮手致意，踏上了向東環游世界的征程。這次旅行預計將花費15天的時間。 在氣球起飛之前，福塞說："想到今天晚上，我還是有一點緊張的。因為今天晚上是我升空的第一個夜晚，我將檢查一切設備是否工作正常，氣球上是否有漏洞，通訊是否正常，以及最最重要的制熱系統是否正常。" 這位百萬富翁曾是一位股票經紀人，他多次嘗試只身乘熱氣球環球旅行，但都以失敗而告終。 福塞上一次嘗試是今年6月17日在澳大利亞一個盛產金子的城鎮--卡爾吉利進行的。但是當時的一陣怪風將氣球撕裂，他的這次嘗試成了一次事故。 福塞的第四次嘗試是在1998年，當時來自澳大利亞東北海岸的一場風暴撕裂了氣球的罩蓬，結果他從29000英尺（9000米）的高空垂直掉進了太平洋的珊瑚海，萬幸的是他并沒有受傷，這次失敗的嘗試差點成了一次災難。 現年57歲的福塞這次決定在距印度洋約600公里的澳大利亞西部點火，是為了盡量避免遇上來自南太平洋的暴風雨，也使得熱氣球還在陸地上空飛行時，他可以有時間對熱氣球進行檢修。
（中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2001-08-08 01:00
