NOVA Online | Balloon Race Around The World

Balloon Race Around The World menu (see bottom of page for text links)

Weather Window Opens

October 15, 1996

It has long been an impossible dream, but this year it may finally become a reality. Four teams are now poised to take to the skies to meet the last great challenge in lighter-than-air flight—flying non-stop around the world in a balloon. A minimum of 12,500 miles must be traversed and the original longitude of takeoff must be crossed for any one team to succeed. But weather will be, and has always been, the greatest obstacle to lift-off and prolonged flight in the ever-fluctuating jet stream. By November 1, the jet stream will be moving in a west to east direction, which is precisely the trajectory in which the balloon teams want to fly.

This web site will take you into the high-risk world of long distance ballooning with up-to-the-minute news from the Virgin Global Challenger team. This three-man crew from the U.K. is planning to make another bid for a circumnavigation of earth. With three other teams attempting to launch in the same weather window, from November to March 1, pre-launch preparations are underway as the Virgin team is readying to move to their launch site in Morocco. The race is on!

What's New This Year?

Virgin Global Challenger has a new, larger, balloon envelope in a new color. The silver balloon of last year has been replaced with a white 1.1 million cubic foot balloon. Why the change in color? An insider says "we were told it would appear as a large blip on radar screens, an easy target, so we opted for a less visible color."

Global Contenders