Balloonist Steve Fossett has been forced to end his fifth attempt to become the first person to circumnavigate the earth in a balloon.
His SoloSpirit website said early today that the 57-year-old millionaire was abandoning the flight because of bad weather.
"To continue to attempt the Atlantic, Steve is faced with three solid days flying over a front," said mission director Joe Ritchie. "The icing risks of that, especially over the ocean, is not something we want to play around with so he is going to go ahead and land."
Fossett has flown more than 20301km since taking off on August 4 from Western Australia. He will land near the border of Brazil and Uruguay, about 145km from the Atlantic Coast.
Fossett abandons balloon bid
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