Word: balloons
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Balloon Heroes...
...Tuesday afternoon, some 1,000 miles from Ireland, gales lifted the balloon to nearly 20,000 ft., and the men were forced to don oxygen masks. The next day heavy ice forming on the balloon pushed it down to 4,000 ft. before the afternoon sun melted the frosty coating and saved the expedition...
...balloon neared the British Isles, the winds died, and fearing the balloon might drop into the sea, American rescue planes were sent up. But a breeze freshened, and the crew caught a dizzying glimpse of Ireland through the clouds as they crossed over the tiny port of Louisburgh in County Mayo. Once they had traversed Wales and crossed the English Channel to the French coast, the men on Double Eagle II found themselves the center of a flock of light airplanes and helicopters that whizzed by in salute and formed an honor guard to escort them the rest...
...cover the same ground in six days that thousands of airline passengers travel every week in a few hours? At a press conference, Abruzzo talked in much the same terms that explorers have used for centuries: "Unless frontiers are challenged from time to time-whether they be flying a balloon, breaking an altitude record in a plane or writing a fine piece of literature -we don't move forward as a society." And Anderson described the lure of ballooning: "There are no books or music up there, but there is the whole world to see. It's completely...
What next? Why, to build a new balloon and circumnavigate the world. By soaring higher and ghosting along on stronger winds, Abruzzo figures that the trio might be able to do Jules Verne one better-in fact 50 days better-going around the world in 30 days. That dream itself provides a marvelous end to a marvelous adventure...