US adventurer Steve Fossett launched his balloon from the Western Australian desert on Sunday in another attempt to become the first to fly a balloon solo around the world.
The giant high-altitude balloon, bathed in the desert's golden morning light, drifted slowly into the sky above Northam, a small mining town 100 km east of Perth, just after 7 a.m. (midnight Irish time).
Mr Fossett (57) had delayed inflating the aircraft for 61/2 hours due to unfavourable winds, but with time running out before the arrival of the morning's hot thermals, he gave the order to fill the balloon with helium for a dawn launch.
Mr Fossett waved to around 100 residents of the town as he entered the capsule for an eastward circumnavigation that he expects will take 15 days.
"It looks good. I will be flying just over the cloud layer across Australia," a confident Mr Fossett said.
By nightfall yesterday, Mr Fossett was approaching the gold mining town of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia and flying at 26 to 27 knots, at an altitude of about 6,250 m.
But the mission's chief meteorologist, Mr Bob Rice, said that due to the delay in take-off, there was now a threat of thunderstorms on day two when Mr Fossett was due to pass over the Australian city of Brisbane before heading toward the Pacific Ocean.
Mr Fossett's fourth solo bid ended in near disaster in 1998, when a thunderstorm off Australia's northeastern coast shredded his canopy and sent him plummeting 9,000 m into the Coral Sea. He was unhurt.
Mr Rice said Mr Fossett should have enough altitude to clear the disturbance.
"The first nail-biter will be in the same place [as 1998]. We have something coming up right away and quick to focus our attention and Steve's attention," he said.
But within hours of take-off Mr Fossett was forced to repair a communications antenna. He was out of contact for four hours.
"Fossett climbed outside the capsule to change the antenna," said the flight co-ordinator, Mr Kevin Stass, adding Mr Fossett had since been in contact with Australian air traffic controllers.
The millionaire former stockbroker has made a series of failed attempts to fly solo in a balloon around the world.
This year, Mr Fossett decided to launch in western Australia, some 600 km from the Indian Ocean, to have a better chance of avoiding thunderstorms in the South Pacific and gain time to detect problems while still over land.
His flight can be followed at http://solospirit.wustl.edu