More Than Hot Air

In the mid-19th century, writers like Philip Hone lamented that hot air balloons would someday traverse the Atlantic Ocean “from sun to sun” and spell the death of the leisurely pace of life--”good old days of heavy post-coaches and speed at the rate of six miles an hour!”

Now that man has reached 24,000 miles per hour (in the Apollo spacecraft), it might seem there are indeed no more records left to beat. But Steve Fossett, a Chicago securities dealer who exchanges e-mail messages in split seconds every business day, understands that velocity figures are not what count most. The honor lies in human endurance. You can still stretch yourself.

With that aim, Fossett has competed in Alaska’s Iditarod dog sled race, set six ocean-sailing records and climbed Argentina’s 23,000-foot Cerro Aconcagua.

Monday, Fossett reached another landmark. Having traveled 9,000 miles over six days since leaving Missouri, he eclipsed his own world ballooning distance record of 5,435 miles, set in 1995. Fossett had intended to be the first hot air balloonist to travel solo nonstop around the world, but a fuel shortage cut his voyage short. The adventure ended when Fossett’s big silver balloon descended into a tree in a mustard field in eastern India.

Nobody there spoke English and it took an hour for a villager to slog through rain-ravaged roads to retrieve an English-speaking police officer. When the officer arrived, Fossett appeared anything but frustrated. “The only problem I have,” he said, “is that I am way behind in sleeping.” He may not have traveled as far and as fast as the astronauts, but his personal victory is no less sweet.