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Ananova
:
Steve
Fossett Crosses Andes
SWITZERLAND - Steve
Fossett has crossed the Andes mountains and passed the halfway mark
on his quest to become the first solo balloonist to circle the globe.
An hour after the
57-year-old crossed a 6,700-metre peak, strong winds tossed Fossett
and his Solo Spirit balloon up and down.
Aware that a strong
updraft could cause his balloon to rupture, Fossett put on his parachute
as a precaution and manually burned fuel to control the balloon's altitude.
He then reported
things had calmed about 30 minutes later.
The balloon crossed
the halfway point over Argentina shortly after 1500 GMT.
The second half
of Fossett's trip, if successful, will not necessarily cover the same
distance or time as the first half, given variations in speed and the
balloon's flight path.
As of 1700 GMT,
Fossett had travelled more than 20,000 kilometres, making the balloon
flight the second longest ever, the longest solo flight on record and
the longest flight in an unpressurised gondola.
He set off August
4 from Australia in his fifth bid to become the first solo balloonist
to circle the Earth.
The flight distance
record was set in March 1999, when Swiss psychiatrist Bertrand Piccard
and English balloon instructor Brian Jones teamed up to ride around
the globe in the Breitling Orbiter balloon, with a pressurised cabin.
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