First Nonstop Around-the-World Balloon Trip Is Completed
At a glance:
- Series: Great Events: 1900-2001
- Categories: Technology, Inventions, Aviation, Space Exploration
- Subcategories: Explorers, Aircraft, Airplanes
- Curriculum: 20th & 21st Century European History, Western Civilization/European History
- Geographical Location: Switzerland, Mauritania
- Date: March 20, 1999
Article abstract: After twenty years of intense competition, adventurers Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones conquered one of aviation’s last challenges, traveling around the world in a balloon.
The Great Balloon Race
When Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones crossed the 9.27 degrees west latitude over Mauritania in the Breitling Orbiter 3 after a flight of 25,361 miles (40,806 kilometers) on March 20, 1999, they became the first balloonists to circumnavigate the globe. Their flight ended an intense competition, closely followed in the press, which had...
[The entire page is 1042 words long]
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