, The Breitling Orbiter 3 was the first balloon to fly around the world non-stop, an achievement that was accomplished in 1999 and piloted by Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones.
A beautiful piece of engineering, the Breitling Orbiter 3 is a Rozière balloon which is both a hot-air balloon and gas balloon with a helium cell within the hot-air envelope, built by Cameron Balloons in Bristol, England. The balloon had an impressive 6 burners which was contained in 28 titanium cylinders mounted in two rows along the sides of the gondola. Before they set off, the team also added four more propane containers to ensure they had enough fuel- an action that proved completely necessary for Piccard and Jones to complete the trip. Without those containers, this record would never have been made.
The Breitling Orbiter 3 took off from Château-d’Oex on March 1st and travelled over the Mediterranean and Mauritania. They landed in the Egyptian desert taking their journey to a total time of 19 days, 21 hours and 55 minutes. The achieved up to speeds of 161 knots, a top altitude of 37,313 ft and a total travelled distance of 25,361 miles. In order to complete this incredible challenge, Piccard and Jones had to navigate the controls for eight hours on their own, eight hours together and eight hours resting in the single bunk. The gondola is now on show at the National Air and Space Museum in the Milestones of Flight Gallery alongside the Wright Brothers 1903 Flyer (see article on this here) and the Apollo 11 Command Module (see article on this here).
30 Greatest Moments In Aviation – in association with Breitling, celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the timeless Chronomat.
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