WORLD : Balloonists Cross Pacific Ocean
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SITKA, Alaska — British millionaire-adventurer Richard Branson and Swedish pilot Per Lindstrand crossed the North American coast early today to set a distance record for a manned balloon in a trans-Pacific odyssey from Japan.
Organizers of the trek said the pair crossed the coastline at 1:45 a.m. PST, headed for a landing in the Canadian Yukon sometime after dawn. They expected to set down somewhere between Great Bear Lake and Great Slave Lake near Yellowknife in Canada’s Northwest Territories.
“No craft in the 200 years of ballooning (has) flown so far and so fast,” said Lori Levin, a spokeswoman for the Virgin Otsuka Pacific Flyer in Los Angeles.
Organizers estimated the balloon will have traveled 6,500 miles by touchdown. By landfall, it had already traveled about 6,300 miles, breaking the 6,138-mile record set in 1982 by the Double Eagle V, a helium balloon.
It was the first time a hot-air balloon had crossed the Pacific Ocean.
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