Source: Yahoo! News – news.yahoo.com
An audacious, nearly 7,000-mile-long trip across the Pacific Ocean came to an end Saturday as two accomplished pilots safely touched down in the water just off the coast of Mexico in their helium-filled balloon after shattering two long-standing records.
Troy Bradley of Albuquerque and Leonid Tiukhtyaev of Russia landed 4 miles offshore in Baja California about 300 miles north of the popular beach destination of Cabo San Lucas. Initial plans called for a landing on the beach, but the pilots decided to come in low and drop trailing ropes into the ocean to help slow the balloon for a controlled water landing.
Tami Bradley and her daughter Savannah pose for a picture in Albuquerque, N.M., after celebrating word that pilot Troy Bradley was safe and in a fishing boat headed to the Baja California shore following the water landing of the Two Eagles Balloon on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015. The balloon surpassed a pair of major distance and duration ballooning records while during a six-day journey across the Pacific Ocean.
Photo: AP/Susan Montoya BryanMission control in Albuquerque was packed with supporters of the Two Eagles team as the balloon descended, with all eyes focused on a giant screen showing a map of the coast and the balloon’s location.
Irina Tiukhtyaev, center, and Margarita Shmidt, right, the wife and daughter of Russian balloon pilot Leonid Tiukhtyaev, discuss the landing of the Two Eagles Balloon after monitoring the final moments of the flight at mission control in Albuquerque, N.M., on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015. Tiukhtyaev and fellow pilot Troy Bradley landed after crossing the Pacific Ocean and surpassing a pair of major ballooning records.
Photo: AP/Susan Montoya BryanIt wasn’t until the crowd received word that the pilots were safe and aboard a fishing boat headed to the shore that cheers erupted and the cork was popped on a bottle of champagne.
The Two Eagles Balloon mission control team gets ready to pop the cork on a bottle of champagne in Albuquerque, N.M, following the successful landing of the helium-filled balloon just off the coast of Baja California on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015. Two pilots, Troy Bradley of Albuquerque and Leonid Tiukhtyaev of Russia, in a helium-filled balloon landed safely off the coast of Mexico early Saturday after an audacious, nearly 7,000-mile (11,265-kilometer)-long trip across the Pacific Ocean that shattered two long-standing records for ballooning.
Photo: AP/Susan Montoya Bryan“I can say on behalf of the entire mission control center, that we are all very excited and relieved,” mission control director Steve Shope said.
Two Eagles Balloon mission control director Steve Shope discusses the landing of the helium-filled balloon after it crossed the Pacific Ocean en route to surpassing two major ballooning records for distance and duration during a news conference in Albuquerque, N.M., on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015. Shope said the balloon touched down in the water about 4 miles off the coast of Baja California on Saturday morning.
Photo: AP/Susan Montoya BryanBradley and Tiukhtyaev lifted off from Japan last Sunday morning. By Friday, they beat what’s considered the “holy grail” of ballooning achievements, the 137-hour duration record set in 1978 by the Double Eagle crew of Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman in the first balloon flight across the Atlantic. They also easily exceeded the distance record of 5,209 miles set by the Double Eagle V team during the first trans-Pacific flight in 1981.
By the time they landed Saturday, the pilots had traveled 6,646 miles over six days, 16 hours and 38 minutes.
“These are significant improvements over the existing records,” Shope said. “We didn’t break them by just a little bit. They were broken by a significant amount.”
Visitors to the Anderson Abruzzo International Balloon Museum in Albuquerque, N.M., are directed to the mission control center for the Two Eagles Balloon flight on Friday, Jan. 30, 2015. The balloon has surpassed world records for distance and duration during its trip across the Pacific Ocean. It was scheduled to land on Mexico’s Baja California peninsula on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015.
Photo: AP/Susan Montoya BryanThe world has been tracking the progress of the Two Eagles Balloon online and through social media sites. Still, the official distance and time of the flight must be confirmed by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, a process that could take weeks or months.
“There will be no disputing whatsoever that they connected the dots,” said Sam Parks, president of the Southwestern region of the Balloon Federation of America. He pointed to all the monitoring and tracking equipment aboard the balloon and the witnesses who watched the launch and the landing.
“We are so proud of what Troy and Leonid have done. They have certainly set the bar high for all of us,” Parks said.
The trans-Pacific flight was 15 years in the making. Bradley and his family spent countless hours thinking about every aspect of the journey, said his wife, Tami Bradley, who is a balloon pilot herself.
“For Troy, it’s a personal thing to do something better than anyone else in the world has done it before and to push himself,” she said.
Bradley already holds numerous ballooning records. And his list of heroes includes none other than Abruzzo and Anderson.
“For Troy, it’s also his way of paying homage to those who came before him by attempting to go after their records,” his wife said.
The pilots were said to be in good spirits at various times during the trip, but it was a grueling ordeal given the number of days they spent in the cramped balloon capsule. At high altitudes, they had to wear oxygen masks and bundle up against the 50-degree temperature inside the capsule. They had sleeping bags, a small onboard heater and a simple toilet.
Family members joked Saturday that the pilots were unshaven and in need of showers.
The original route took the pilots on a path from Japan, across the Pacific Ocean and toward the Pacific Northwest before they encountered shifting weather patterns. They then made a sweeping right turn and headed south along the California coast for the Mexico landing.
Source: Yahoo! News – news.yahoo.com