Around-the-World Balloon Flight Put Off Till November

After two failed launch attempts, the Earthwinds around-the-world balloon flight was postponed Saturday until November, organizers said.

Weather conditions were never just right to start the journey of the high-tech, hourglass-shaped twin balloons. Launch attempts early Saturday and on Feb. 14 were scrubbed because it was too windy, project spokesman William G. Armstrong Jr. said.

The three crew members of Earthwinds have been waiting for weeks to attempt the flight. The captain, airline pilot Larry Newman of Scottsdale, Ariz., said he is confident a launch will be possible in November.

Newman said he is not sure the next launch attempt will be made from Akron, but he noted that the air dock here is the only existing structure capable of sheltering the balloon.

“The air dock and the city of Akron itself are two very strong reasons to launch from this area. But we have to factor in every single element, and the wind is a major component,” he said.

Newman and his crew, Don Moses and Russian cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov, need near-calm conditions on the ground and the right trajectory to launch the trip, expected to last from 12 to 21 days at an altitude of about 35,000 feet. It would be the first balloon to circle the world.

Earthwinds is made up of two balloons and a control cabin, or gondola. The football-shaped gondola is suspended between the upper and lower balloons. The upper balloon holds the helium that provides lift for the system. The lower balloon, full of compressed air, serves as ballast.

During the day, as the helium in the upper balloon is heated by sunlight, the gas expands, causing the balloon to rise. At night, when the gas cools, the balloon descends.

Flight plans call for Earthwinds to cruise in the jet stream, an atmospheric current of air that circles the globe.