Non-Stop, ‘Round-The-World Balloon Trip In Jeopardy

Steve Fossett’s quest to become the first to pilot a balloon around the world nonstop was in jeopardy Sunday, plagued by low winds and heater malfunctions that left him shivering in his cockpit.

It is “very unlikely” Fossett would complete his trip, Alan Blount, mission control director, said Sunday afternoon.

“Steve is very cold … I honestly don’t know the duration of this flight,” Blount added.

The announcement came at a news conference hours after Fossett’s two vital heaters went out and he appeared to be headed toward the north side of the Black Sea over Russia.

“Steve is going to make the ultimate decision … He’s a big boy,” Blount said.

Blount said there was “serious discussion” Sunday morning between the mission control team and Fossett about executing a landing, because the wind at that time showed he would begin to loop back toward Moscow. “Obviously we didn’t want to do a trip to Moscow,” Blount said.

The team believes Fossett could continue traveling eastward, rather than looping north, which would put over the very southern tip of Russia.

Blount said Fossett might still attempt to break his own record of traveling 10,361 miles in a balloon. That was in January 1997, when he was forced to land in a mustard field because he ran out of fuel.