Cold Taking Steam Out of Balloon Voyage

Steve Fossett’s quest to become the first person to pilot a balloon around the world nonstop was in jeopardy Sunday, plagued by low winds and heater malfunctions that left him shivering in his cockpit.

It is “very unlikely” Fossett will complete his trip, Alan Blount, mission control director, said Sunday afternoon.

“Steve is very cold. . . . I honestly don’t know the duration of this flight,” Blount added.

The announcement came at a news conference hours after Fossett’s two vital heaters went out and he appeared to be headed toward the north side of the Black Sea over Russia.

“Steve is going to make the ultimate decision. . . . He’s a big boy,” Blount said.

Blount said there was “serious discussion” Sunday morning between the mission control team and Fossett about landing, because the wind at that time showed he would begin to loop back toward Moscow. “Obviously we didn’t want to do a trip to Moscow,” Blount said.

The team believes Fossett could continue traveling eastward, rather than north, which would put him over the very southern tip of Russia.

Blount said Fossett might still attempt to break his own record of traveling 10,361 miles in a balloon. That record was set last January, when he was forced to land in a field in India because he ran out of fuel.

“If you set a record, that’s great, it’s a milestone,” Blount said. “If you get all the way around the world, that’s the pot of gold.”

Flight team members said Fossett had flown about 5,000 miles, but they indicated that breaking last year’s record is doubtful.

Fossett is more likely to break another record he set last year by staying aloft for more than six days, said spokesman Steve Kraushaar.

To do it, Fossett could land at 6 p.m. PST Tuesday and beat that record by 16 minutes.

At 4 p.m. PST on Sunday, Fossett was halfway across the Black Sea, 200 miles north of Turkey, flying at 21,000 feet. His speed wasn’t available.

The malfunctions left Fossett with diminished control over the hot-air portion of his combination helium and hot-air craft.

The team reported that a heater was malfunctioning in Fossett’s 6-by-4-foot passenger capsule beneath the balloon.

Normally the heater keeps the capsule’s temperature at 45 to 50 degrees.

“He said he’s cold,” spokeswoman Judith Jasper said. “He’s said he’s uncomfortable and would like it to be warmer.”

The team also said one of the two propane burners that are fired whenever the hot-air balloon must be heated for extra lift was not working properly.

Fossett took off from St. Louis on Wednesday and hoped to complete his flight in 15 to 20 days.

It is the 53-year-old Chicago commodities trader’s third try to circle the world.

“This is a really tough thing to do,” Blount said.