Mountain Stops Balloon Venture : Flight: Three-man crew is safe after aborting around-the-world attempt.

A balloon attempting a record-breaking flight around the world struck a mountain shortly after liftoff and made an emergency landing near here Tuesday, disappointing promoters but causing no harm to the three-member crew.

The sophisticated craft, a dual-balloon vehicle that is taller than the length of a football field, made a promising ascent into cloudy skies at 10:10 a.m. as a crowd of 500 onlookers cheered.

But then came trouble, as the craft failed to gain altitude and struck a craggy ridge five miles north of its launch site in Reno. The collision punctured the balloon’s fabric skin and forced the pilots to land their pressurized capsule in a snowy valley near Hallelujah Junction, an outpost along U.S. 395.

“The balloon just did not perform according to our expectations,” said Bill Armstrong, a spokesman for Hilton Hotels Corp., the chief sponsor of the $4-million Earthwinds Hilton venture. “At this point, we don’t know why that happened.”

Larry Newman, the commander of the flight, told a news conference that the “performance of the craft was sluggish” right from the start. When the balloon ruptured, he said, “it gave a severe lean to the craft and we elected to land.”

Newman--who was rescued by helicopter along with fellow American pilot Don Moses and Russian cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov--said he was “astounded” at the disappointing turn of events.

“I really expected this craft to climb out just like the prototype that we flew,” said Newman, who is the only person to have crossed the Pacific and the Atlantic in a balloon.

Newman and his backers had hoped their unusual, hourglass-shaped craft would become the first manned balloon to circumnavigate the globe, a 20,000-mile trip expected to take between 12 and 21 days. So far, however, the project has been plagued by a string of setbacks related to weather and technical glitches.

Tuesday’s launch, for example, was delayed for several hours by subzero temperatures--which froze tubes used to fill the top balloon with helium--and by the discovery of a hole in the anchor balloon.

Both problems were easily fixed, and when the balloon took flight, organizers and several hundred project volunteers were jubilant.

Thirty minutes later, however, the fun was over. Promoters said they were undeterred and would try again later in the year.

“I have every reason to believe we will proceed to launch next Nov. 15,” said Barron Hilton, chairman of Hilton Hotels. “And I have every reason to believe we will have a successful mission.”

Mitchell, a Times special correspondent, reported from Hallelujah Junction. Warren, a Times staff writer, reported from San Francisco.