Billionaire balloonist in seventh heaven

By GREGG WYCHERLEY

Billionaire American adventurer Steve Fossett is nothing if not determined.

Until yesterday, he had failed six times to fly a balloon around the world - five times by himself and once in the company of Sir Richard Branson.

Yesterday he took off again.

Fossett, aged 57, took off alone in Solo Spirit from Northam, a small farm service town in the West Australian desert, 100km east of Perth, just after 7 am (11am NZT) yesterday.

But he soon ran into trouble.

Last night technical problems put him out of direct contact with mission control for four hours.

He established communication with mission control, at Washington University, only after climbing outside the ballon capsule to change an antenna and switching to a back-up computer.

His primary laptop computer crashed soon after take-off, forcing him to use alternative position-reporting software.

Fossett has been trying since 1995 to complete his circumnavigation, and his patience was tried again yesterday after high winds delayed inflating the balloon for 6 1/2 hours.

But with time running out before the arrival of the morning's hot thermals, he gave the order to fill the balloon with helium.

Mr Fossett dumped sand overboard as the giant silver balloon rose for an eastward circumnavigation, expected to take 15 days.

"I am a bit nervous about the first night," he said before take-off.

"On the first night I will find out if everything works, if there are any leaks in the balloon, if there are any failures in communications and if the all-important heating works."

And well he might be.

The 57-year-old's last attempt, on June 17 from the Australian gold mining town of Kalgoorlie, ended in spectacular failure as the 50m-high balloon envelope ripped in a freak gust.

In his fourth attempt, in August 1998, Mr Fossett managed to travel 22,910km, two-thirds of the way around the globe, until he ran into a thunderstorm off Australia. Winds ruptured the balloon and he plummeted 9000m into the Coral Sea.

In January 1998, he crashed in a Russian wheatfield because of a malfunctioning in-cabin heater and a failed propane burner.

On his second try, in 1997, he ran out of fuel after six days.

Mr Fossett's first attempt was in February 1995, when he flew from Seoul, Korea, to Saskatchewan, Canada.

In December 1998, he hooked up with Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand to attempt the first team circumnavigation, but they ditched in the sea off Hawaii, 19,962 km from their start point in Marrakesh, Morrocco.

With the cost of his last failed attempt reaching $1.65 million, Mr Fossett hinted afterwards that his enthusiasm might be waning.

* In March 1999 Betrand Piccard and Brian Jones became the first people to circumnavigate the globe in a balloon.