Word: ballooned
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Decked out in a random assortment of rollerblades, army fatigues, Harvard sweatshirts, nose rings and balloon hats, over 60,000 people attended Central Square's semi-annual World's Fair yesterday afternoon...
...GORDON BENNETT BALLOON RACE is one of the most prestigious contests of its kind and is based on a single rule: the balloon that travels the farthest wins. Following that canon has led many daring pilots over the years to risk their lives, and sometimes to lose them. Tragedy, when it occurs, usually boils down to collision with one of three things: bad weather, bad judgment or bad luck. In 1923 five balloonists were struck by lightning and killed in Europe. But during the 89-year history of this race, no balloon had ever fallen victim to deliberate human aggression...
...that is, until last week. At 9:41 on Tuesday morning, a Belarussian helicopter gunship opened fire on a balloon captained by Alan Fraenckel, 55, an airline pilot with TWA, and his partner, John Stuart-Jervis, 68, a retired British pilot who made his home in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Within seconds they were dead--shot out of the sky over a remote Belarussian forest...
...Their balloon, the D-Caribbean, set out with 14 competitors from seven countries on Sept. 9 from Switzerland, the home of the previous year's winner. Because this would be the first Gordon Bennett race since the end of World War II in which former Soviet airspace would be accessible, organizers had contacted each of the Baltic States as well as Belarus and Ukraine to request permission for the balloons to cross their airspace. Pilots, after all, could not fully control where the winds took them. Having received approval from every government, including Belarus', the balloons ascended from Wil, near...
This is part of a lesson for two weeks from now, the "firefighter" lesson, where the kids will learn about putting out candles with carbon dioxide and making a gas fill up a balloon...