Mission Accomplished, Now it's Time to Land
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, JULY 2, 2002, 6:00 p.m. CDT (JULY 2, 2002, 23:00 UTC)
The Bud Light Spirit of Freedom around-the-world mission is a success! The
balloon capsule officially sent coordinates confirming that Pilot Steve
Fossett crossed 116.42.16 east longitude at 13:53 UTC, 8:53 a.m. St. Louis
time. Passing this point, directly south of the launch site in Northam,
Western Australia, Fossett became the first solo balloonist to
circumnavigate the globe.
Guinness World Records called later to confirm that they have donned
Fossett with the official record: "First Person to Solo Circumnavigate the
Globe in a Balloon." He is also likely to set records for "Longest Distance
Flown Solo by Balloon" and "Longest Duration (time) Solo Flight in a
Balloon," pending confirmation from the FAI (World Air Sports Federation).
At a press conference this morning at Mission Control at Washington
University in St. Louis, Fossett was able to comment via a conference call.
He said that completing this adventure was an "enormous satisfaction." He
later noted however, that he will not do much celebrating yet, as he needs
to focus on landing in Australia.
As Steve cruises northeast with a heading of 61 degrees off the southern
shores of Australia, meteorologists Luc Trullemans and David Dehenauw are
guiding him into winds that will carry him more northward toward the
continent. It is currently predicted that the balloon will cross the coast
around 11:30 tonight (4:30 UTC tomorrow morning) and land around 3 a.m. St.
Louis time (8:00 UTC). These predictions are subject to drift depending on
the weather, so updates will be issued as necessary.
The coast crossing will occur near Ceduna, Australia, where the chase plane
and several helicopters will fly-by and escort our ballooning adventurer to
a safe touchdown.
Currently, Bud Light Spirit of Freedom is positioned at 35 degrees south
latitude and 126 degrees west longitude. Soaring at 25,300 feet (7,711
meters) and 73 miles per hour (118 km per hour), the mission has now logged
a total of 20,036 miles (32,245 km).
