Two pilots from the US and Russia have travelled farther and longer in a gas balloon than anyone in history, aiming to eliminate any remaining debate over a century of records in long-distance ballooning.
The Two Eagles pilots surpassed the distance and duration records that have held since the 1970s and 1980s, and were aiming on Saturday for a safe landing somewhere on a beach in Mexico's Baja California peninsula.
Troy Bradley of Albuquerque and Leonid Tiukhtyaev of Russia lifted off from Japan on Sunday morning, and by Friday, they beat what's considered the "holy grail" of ballooning achievements, the 137-hour duration record set in 1978 in the first balloon flight across the Atlantic.
By early on Saturday morning, the Two Eagles team had been in the air nearly 155 hours and was smashing the distance record, having travelled more than 6500 miles (10,460km), including the crossing of the Pacific Ocean.
"The technology has improved so much in the last couple of years. I don't think there's going to be any question about the records," said Katie Griggs, a regional director with the nonprofit Balloon Federation of America.
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Still, the official distance and time of the Two Eagles flight must be confirmed by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, which requires staying aloft one per cent longer and farther than the previous record.
The journey has been tough on the pilots, who have been on oxygen for days; high altitude can take a physical toll. But they've been cracking jokes when checking in with mission control and their families.
The flight's mission control director, Steve Shope, said their priority now is getting the balloon to a safe landing after bad weather along the US West Coast forced them to make a sharp right turn toward Mexico.
The pilots plan to come in low and drop thick trailing ropes into the ocean to slow the balloon before setting down on some dunes in Baja California. Once they reach the sand, they will have travelled more than 6800 miles.
"We're very excited. The pilots are excited. I think they're ready to land," Shope said.
