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Balloonists set distance record, prepare for Mexico landing

Traveling mostly over the Pacific Ocean, the balloonists surpassed a distance record of 5,260 miles.

By Ed Adamczyk

SAGA , Japan, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- A distance record for ballooning has been set, as two balloonists travel from Japan to Mexico, their arrival anticipated for Saturday.

American Troy Bradley and Russian Leonid Tiukhtyaev, in their helium balloon Two Eagles, surpassed a 1981 record of 5,260 miles and are on course to also set a record for time aloft, set in 1978, of over 137 hours. They left Japan on Sunday, setting out over the Pacific Ocean, with plans to touch down in the United States or in Canada, but have changed course due to weather, and are expected to land in Mexico.

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Their support team posted an announcement to social media Thursday: "The pilots have just surpassed the distance needed to set a new record. 5,261 miles or 8,467 km."

Bradley, 50, is a balloon company owner in Albuquerque, N.M. Tiukhtyaev, 58, is a director of a bank in Russia and longtime ballooning enthusiast. Each has achieved a number of ballooning firsts and records.

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Their aircraft is a high-tech balloon made of Kevlar and carbon fiber weighing only 220 pounds. Beneath is a cramped, space capsule-like gondola in which the pilots sit, surrounded by monitoring equipment.

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