When Richard Branson says he is out to defy the odds and be the first to circumnavigate the world in a hot-air balloon, everybody listens. At least three other teams, including American Steve Fossett, are quietly trying to compete for this elite first. NOVA follows the effort from designing a balloon capable of entering the jet stream 8 miles up to survival training aimed at saving their lives in a catastrophe. The heart stopping footage of Branson pulling the wrong cord and losing his parachute completely, only to be saved by a quick thinking instructor won't soon be forgotten. As the weather window closes, and countries in the proposed flight path deny fly over clearance, the going gets tough. Can the tough get going?
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00:00Tonight on NOVA, is it possible to fly around the world in a balloon?
00:06These men think so.
00:07It is going to be a great adventure.
00:09But they know it won't be easy.
00:11We had minor problems, but these minor problems have nearly killed me.
00:16Yes.
00:17They each have their role and their reasons.
00:19I'm not doing it for the pleasure of it.
00:21In my opinion, it's going to be hell.
00:22I'm going to be around the world because I want to be the first man that's ever done it.
00:25But like it or not, they're in it together.
00:27Three men and a balloon.
00:31NOVA is funded by Merck.
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01:19By the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and viewers like you.
01:39To fly a balloon around the world has long been no more than a dream.
01:46The farthest that any balloon has ever flown is less than five and a half thousand miles.
01:58But now, a self-made British billionaire is about to take on this extraordinary challenge.
02:04Richard Branson is chairman of the Virgin Airline and Entertainment Empire.
02:10Basking in the glare of the cameras, this unconventional hero of British business,
02:14accompanied by balloon designer Per Lindstrand, has come to London to make an announcement.
02:22So why are we making this precious attempt to be the first to circumnavigate the globe non-stop by balloon?
02:28Well, as I speak, there are other teams busily preparing themselves to be the first.
02:33One of these competitors is Chicago businessman Steve Fawcett.
02:39In 1995, he broke all distance records, flying nearly five and a half thousand miles across the Pacific.
02:47Another American team called Odyssey also hoped to fly around the world in a giant weather balloon.
02:53These balloons have flown unmanned for many years to investigate the upper atmosphere.
03:01A more serious rival was Dutchman Henk Brink.
03:04In 1986, he and two other pilots flew the Atlantic, making a rough landing in Holland.
03:17Brink was shaken, but undeterred.
03:22He spent the last four years preparing to fly around the world, and his balloon is virtually complete.
03:29Meanwhile, Branson and Lindstrand's balloon is no more than a virtual reality.
03:34Their launch date is November 1995, but in July, their balloon is still on the drawing board, the route undecided.
03:43A balloon has no real choices to which route it takes,
03:46and so we just have to get permissions from about 97 countries to be able to cross them.
03:51And if we miss out one, we're just going to have to radio in and say we've got no choice.
03:56We've learned a lot from the transatlantic and transpacific balloon crossings,
04:01which makes us think we now have the technology to go around the world.
04:07In 1987, Branson and Lindstrand flew across the Atlantic in the largest hot air balloon ever.
04:18At liftoff, two giant canisters of propane gas fell off.
04:23If they'd ruptured, the balloon, pilots, and launch pad would have been incinerated.
04:30It was the first time a balloon climbed into the jet stream,
04:34which flows at 30,000 feet, high above local weather patterns.
04:39Although it seemed to the pilots that they were floating in still air,
04:42the balloon was actually traveling at nearly 300 miles per hour.
04:48They crossed the Atlantic in just 30 hours,
04:51more than tripling the distance record for a hot air balloon.
05:07The balloon landed hard in Ireland, but rose back into the air.
05:13All communications were destroyed.
05:18Finally, they ditched the balloon and jumped into the freezing waters off Scotland.
05:23Both men nearly drowned.
05:27Others might have taken this as a warning,
05:30but four years later, they decided to fly across the Pacific in an even larger balloon.
05:38Again, the flight was far from easy.
05:41At one point, it looked like they'd have to ditch in mid-Pacific,
05:44thousands of miles from help.
05:51Onboard cameras revealed that malfunctioning bolts had jettisoned half their fuel,
05:56taking them to the brink of disaster.
05:59We're at one hell of an angle.
06:03I can't remember it being like this last time.
06:06It almost makes you feel like you're going to go over it.
06:13Somehow, they made it across the Pacific in just two days,
06:16landing on a lake in northern Canada.
06:19This time, they nearly froze to death.
06:23You cannot really test everything.
06:26Something must be left to the actual flight.
06:29And both times, it had minor problems.
06:32Minor problems that nearly killed you?
06:35Yes. Are you speaking to the engineer here?
06:38Anything that doesn't hurt you is a minor problem afterwards.
06:41Ever since he crossed the Atlantic by speedboat in 1986,
06:45all Branson's adventures have been followed by the media.
06:53Usually, when businessmen say they'd kill themselves for publicity,
06:57they're speaking metaphorically.
06:59But for Branson, though the personal risks are high,
07:02the financial danger is minimal.
07:08As fortunately, with all these sorts of adventures,
07:10it shouldn't actually cost us anything at the end of the day.
07:13Literally nothing?
07:14Yeah, literally nothing.
07:15With the Virgin Atlantic Challenge boat,
07:17the day after we did the crossing, we sold it to an Arab
07:20at the same price the total trip cost.
07:23Classic FM. Obvious question, first of all, why?
07:26It hasn't been done before.
07:28We think that from everything we learned,
07:31we now have the technology for it to be done.
07:33It's a very exciting thing to do
07:35because you're pushing technology and yourself to the limit
07:39on what is perhaps the last real aviation challenge left.
07:43A challenge that men made of the right stuff simply can't resist.
07:50Both Lindstrand and Branson had been inspired by the daredevil exploits
07:54of an American balloonist and test pilot, Joe Kittinger.
07:57Kittinger was the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1984
08:02when he was 54 years old.
08:07Joe, welcome to Europe, as I say.
08:10I'm happy to be here.
08:12How's the foot?
08:13I think it's broken.
08:15Ten years later, he still dreams of being the first to fly around the world.
08:19I've actually been working on flying around the world for over 35 years.
08:24I started in the Air Force back in 1979,
08:27coming up with the information that I'd need on meteorology to get around the world.
08:32And I'm still working actively on trying to go around the world.
08:36Back in 1960, Kittinger leaped into the history books
08:40when he jumped from a balloon at 103,000 feet,
08:44the highest jump in history.
08:50He remains the only man ever to have broken the sound barrier with his body alone.
08:57The achievement for flying around the world nonstop in a balloon.
09:01First of all, a balloon is man's oldest aerial vehicle.
09:05And it is the last great challenge in aeronautics.
09:10Kittinger is a consultant of Branson's Virgin Air ship and balloon company.
09:15He was brought in to advise the around-the-world flight.
09:20If I was asked to pick the team that would make it around the world in a balloon,
09:25I would pick Per Lindström's team.
09:27It's going to be tough to find anybody that's any more talented
09:30engineering-wise, pilot-wise than Per Lindström.
09:33Once a pilot in the Swedish Air Force,
09:36Lindström runs a balloon manufacturing company
09:39and holds the altitude record for a hot air balloon.
09:45Since hot air is lighter than cold air,
09:47air blasted with heat from a burner and held in an enclosed bag will rise.
09:52To stay up, the air inside the balloon has to be about 100 degrees hotter
09:56than the atmosphere outside.
10:05In 1783, a crude hot air balloon fueled by burning wool took off in Paris
10:11with a rooster, a sheep, and a duck on board.
10:18Two months later, François-Pilat de Rosiers flew for 20 minutes
10:22in a hot air balloon made of paper.
10:27Two years later, he designed another balloon,
10:29this time using the newly discovered lighter-than-air gas called hydrogen.
10:34He used an open fire to heat the air,
10:36which rose up a cylinder and warmed the hydrogen,
10:39making it even lighter.
10:42But hydrogen is highly flammable,
10:44and the balloon exploded soon after takeoff.
10:49De Rosiers, the first man to fly,
10:51was the first man to die in an air disaster.
10:56From then on, it was considered too dangerous to mix hydrogen in hot air,
11:00so balloons used solely hydrogen,
11:02and later the safer helium gas for lift.
11:07A balloon sinks at night when the temperature drops,
11:10rising again when the sun comes up.
11:13To make it around the world, Lindstrom must stay up around 30,000 feet.
11:18He plans to use propane burners to heat up helium at night,
11:22giving extra lift to replace the sun's energy.
11:27In fact, Lindstrom has written a book on how to do this.
11:32In fact, Lindstrom has returned to the De Rosiers design.
11:36A large sphere of helium above
11:38is warmed by a separate cone-shaped bag of hot air below.
11:44The balloon's fabric must keep helium from escaping
11:47and also provide a temperature barrier,
11:49reflecting solar heat by day
11:51and holding on to as much warmth as possible at night.
11:54But earlier fabrics had problems.
12:02During the Pacific attempt in 1989,
12:05their first balloon fell apart on the launch pad,
12:08like used kitchen foil.
12:12Choosing the right fabric this time would be vital.
12:15Melonex, a thin reflective plastic used to keep corn chips fresh,
12:20was found to be ideal.
12:22But they'd need a lot of it.
12:24The Lindstrom balloon will be as tall as the Statue of Liberty
12:27and capable of flying eight miles high.
12:32To launch this gigantic balloon,
12:35Lindstrom needs 48 hours of calm weather.
12:38He scours England to find the perfect combination
12:41of still ground conditions
12:43with southeasterly winds high above,
12:45all in the right season.
12:47The jet stream is only strong enough
12:49to carry a balloon around the world
12:51between November and February.
12:57When you get down to the exactness
12:59of getting the right weather,
13:01it didn't look that good.
13:03And in fact, it would reduce the possibilities
13:05to one single day's launch
13:08during the entire period of January.
13:11At that point, one gets slightly nervous, of course.
13:14Lindstrom has opted to build capsules
13:17similar to the ones he used for his earlier flights.
13:20The upper part of the spun aluminum shell
13:22will become the flight deck.
13:25A lower chamber will be used for food and equipment storage.
13:29And that other essential...
13:32the toilet.
13:35This is a spacecraft, just as much as a space shuttle.
13:38It's self-contained.
13:40It needs electricity. It needs life support systems.
13:42It needs navigation, communications.
13:44It's a self-contained spacecraft.
13:46It's not an airplane.
13:48It's going to be up there for a long period of time.
13:50It requires elaborate engineering
13:52and very careful attention to detail.
13:56Month-long tests ensure that life support systems
13:59will work at high altitude.
14:04Two engines will pressurize the cabin
14:06and generate power for communications.
14:13This giant pressure chamber simulates flight conditions.
14:16Low pressure at high altitude.
14:19If their cabin ruptures in mid-flight,
14:21they'll have to descend immediately.
14:23If both engines stop, they'll be without breathable air,
14:26and the flight will be over.
14:32They also have to make sure that the burners will work
14:35in the thin air at altitude.
14:43The burners and engines will be fueled
14:45by six giant tanks of propane gas,
14:48each one weighing 2,000 pounds.
14:53They'll be flying in fast-moving ribbons of air
14:56called jet streams that flow at speeds
14:58of up to 300 miles per hour.
15:01For the time being, Lindstrom plans to launch from England
15:04into a subpolar burst, a lower-level wind,
15:07that flows into the subtropical jet stream.
15:12Getting into a jet stream is not unlike
15:14jumping onto a speeding train,
15:16and no one has ever tried to do it with a derosier below.
15:21Lindstrom knows that he might either be
15:23bounced back out of the jet stream
15:28or rise so quickly that his balloon
15:30will punch straight through to the other side.
15:34So they build test balloons.
15:36One question is how much fuel they'll need
15:38to fly around the world.
15:42Because we're flying in a helium hot air balloon
15:44rather than a pure hot air balloon,
15:46and because we're pushing the length of time
15:48that a balloon's going to be in the air
15:50from three days to maybe up to 20 days,
15:52there may be other things that will go wrong.
15:57Virgin's project director Mike Kendrick is also worried.
16:04You have to fly these things.
16:06There's no question of just sitting in there and doing nothing.
16:09You have to fly these things every minute of the day.
16:12And for 12 to 18 days, in a deteriorating situation,
16:16it's going to be a real nail-biter.
16:18I was more frightened about our original projects.
16:22I'm not sure why I'm so much less frightened about this one.
16:26The likelihood of a circumnavigation, in my view,
16:28and it's a personal view, is very low.
16:30I think 10% or less.
16:32I'll give the chance of 50%.
16:35To make it. No more.
16:37Because the race could last up to three weeks,
16:40they begin to search for a third crew member
16:42to share the workload.
16:47The person must be alert, quick-thinking,
16:51without tendency to panic,
16:53to be able to react to something going wrong.
16:57Remarkably, the ideal choice from thousands of applicants
17:01was right under their noses.
17:03Millionaire Rory McCarthy,
17:05chairman of Lindstrom's Balloon Company.
17:10A life-size action man
17:12with a range of interchangeable hairstyles,
17:14Rory had followed in the footsteps of Joe Kittinger,
17:17breaking two world altitude records
17:20for hang gliding and civilian skydiving,
17:23both from balloons piloted by Per Lindstrom.
17:29The third person in this project had to be a contributor,
17:32had to bring something to the project.
17:34It's not just about money and sponsorship.
17:36It's about safety.
17:39And I have the parachuting altitude record.
17:42I've skydived from the altitudes that we're going to.
17:47I love speed, velocity.
17:50I love power in a physical sense.
17:59I'm a pilot. I fly fighter jets.
18:05I have one that goes faster than the speed of sound
18:08and one that goes close to it.
18:10I do the most de-stressing of sports hobbies.
18:14He's a daredevil and a businessman,
18:17capable of raising over half a million dollars in sponsorship
18:20to buy his seat on the flight.
18:24Fortunately, with Rory, we got the best of both worlds.
18:27We got a great personality
18:29and a contribution towards the cost of the project.
18:31If I am one of the first three men,
18:34one of the team that goes around the world first,
18:37nobody will ever be able to take that away from us.
18:40But Rory's team isn't the only one going for glory.
18:43The pressure is heating up.
18:48Fawcett plans to fly a helium-only balloon at low altitude,
18:52which puts him at the mercy of local weather.
18:54Brink, like Branson, will use a Derosier
18:57flying in the more predictable jet stream.
19:00The Odyssey project announces that they will fly up to 25 miles high
19:04at the very edge of the Earth's atmosphere.
19:10They're planning to use an off-the-shelf weather balloon.
19:13These balloons have already flown around the world,
19:16but unmanned, carrying only instruments.
19:19One of the three-man team who intends to fly in the Odyssey capsule
19:22is Mark Sullivan.
19:26If we were to lose pressure at that altitude,
19:29the consequences would be catastrophic.
19:31I guess you could be sucked out of a porthole or your blood would boil.
19:35I mean, it would be pretty bad, pretty intense.
19:37You're in the fringes of outer space.
19:39The Odyssey balloon is by far the largest of the four main competitors,
19:4440 times larger than Branson and Brink's balloons
19:47and 80 times larger than Fawcett's.
19:52These are some very serious attempts that are being made.
19:56The Lindstrand-Branson effort is...
19:59They have many of the great achievements in ballooning.
20:02Hank Brink is very well organized
20:05and has an excellent reputation for only undertaking a well-prepared trip.
20:10I have heard that Steve Fawcett is planning a low-level flight.
20:14They'll be 100% sure that he'll be sucked into a low-pressure system
20:18or something like that.
20:20You can't make a nonstop flight around the world.
20:23Unlike any other team, Fawcett, with his shoestring approach,
20:27intends to go it alone.
20:32It's bad enough when things start going wrong with somebody else.
20:36To be on your own must be potentially nightmarish,
20:39and I think he's definitely a stronger person than I am.
20:42This is an unpressurized capsule.
20:45The systems are far simpler, far lighter,
20:48so I'm able to fly a much smaller balloon,
20:51and I hope to reduce the risk of equipment failure.
20:55Everyone else is flying at high altitudes
20:58where temperature, oxygen, and air pressure are low.
21:02We could, in theory, just use an oxygen mask,
21:05and while that will give us enough oxygen to breathe through,
21:08the rest of the body is not under pressure,
21:10and therefore after four or five hours with a mask only,
21:13you start getting medical problems,
21:15and therefore for two weeks it's not possible.
21:17The other solution would be a full spacesuit
21:20where the entire body is encapsulated in a pressurized environment.
21:24This, in fact, is a Russian spacesuit.
21:26That will work medically,
21:28but for two weeks being restrained in an inflatable blanket like that
21:31is quite a strain, and really on a typical space mission
21:34you're in four or five hours inside the suit.
21:36The only solution is to seal themselves inside a capsule.
21:40But what happens if things go wrong?
21:44I suppose the most cataclysmic thing that could happen
21:47would be a failure in the structure of the balloon itself.
21:52Then we'd have a real problem,
21:54and then we would be faced undoubtedly
21:56with having to skydive out of the capsule.
21:58Now, skydiving out at 35,000 feet is fraught with risk.
22:03The temperature at that altitude is in the region of minus 70.
22:07Throw in the fact that when we skydive out
22:10we'll very quickly attain speeds in excess of 300 miles an hour.
22:15An early deployment at those altitudes
22:17would overstress the parachute to an unbelievable level
22:20and would undoubtedly cause the parachute to shred, explode, literally.
22:25The only debate would be what would shred first,
22:28the people attached to the parachute or the parachute itself.
22:35So it's not a walk in the park,
22:38and I think that's why I'm here.
22:40I mean, I can take Richard with me. I know I can.
22:43But Rory's heroic dreams can't keep the project from running into trouble.
22:48We are working flat out to complete the balloon,
22:51and it's always difficult to judge the cost of a project of this nature.
22:56We have a project cost of 2.7 million pounds.
23:00The original estimate was 1.5,
23:03and therefore out of the overrun of 1.2 million pounds,
23:06Virgin is asking us to stamp up 600,000 pounds,
23:09half the overrun, which is completely unrealistic
23:12for a company with Lindstrand balloon size.
23:15Still, it was Lindstrand himself who signed the original contract with Virgin,
23:19agreeing to complete the project for 1.5 million pounds,
23:23about 3 million dollars.
23:25Now, Pair's company, Lindstrand,
23:27they'll make some money out of this project
23:30despite the fact that it has gone slightly overrun.
23:35I mean, some of that overrun is, you know,
23:37most of that overrun is not their fault as such.
23:39It's just making sure that we have a project that works.
23:43Where's the swap? Where's the contract?
23:46At the moment, I'm being faced with signed documents
23:50saying that I've got to pay back 600,000 pounds.
23:52Essentially, it means for the next 10 years,
23:55I will make no profit of any kind.
23:59So I've got to donate the next 10 years of my life to Virgin Group.
24:03Surprisingly, McCarthy, Lindstrand's chairman,
24:06seems to take Branson's side.
24:09We were over budget,
24:11and here was a deal which halved the overspend
24:14so that Virgin picked up half of it,
24:16Lindstrand picked up the other half.
24:18Now, is that a good deal or is that a good deal?
24:21Not much.
24:23The laughs continued in front of the cameras,
24:26but with financial and personal tensions building,
24:29there were understandable second thoughts.
24:32My six-year-old son, Cameron,
24:35who I particularly adore,
24:37is at an age where he fully understands what I'm doing.
24:42The risks involved.
24:53The phone rang, and it was him
24:55sort of crying hysterically down the phone,
24:57and I found that quite moving, actually.
25:01He was actually saying,
25:02Don't go, Daddy.
25:12I've talked about it with my wife, Sally,
25:15all through last night.
25:18And...
25:21It sort of came to the point where I just said,
25:24Let's just go.
25:26History does not record Sally's reply.
25:30In Holland, arch-rival Henk Brink,
25:33using a method similar to Branson's,
25:35pronounces himself ready to go.
25:38Hey, that's good. That's a good job.
25:40Lindstrand has a foot in both camps.
25:43But I built this thing
25:45that I was going to be in competition with my own engineering.
25:48Though his primary commitment is to the Branson team,
25:51he'd also help design the Dutchman's capsule.
25:55We have essentially six months to build the entire system
25:58and make it flight-ready.
25:59These people had four years.
26:01Brink actually had time to test his equipment.
26:06I was able to test my balloon,
26:09to test inflate it in the space shuttle hangar
26:12at Cape Kennedy.
26:16We could inflate the balloon with helium,
26:18leave it for three days,
26:19and see if there was any leak in the balloon,
26:21if all the lines worked well, and so on.
26:25I'm slightly baffled.
26:27He seems to have extremely good equipment.
26:29And I'm surprised he hasn't taken off before now.
26:35Meanwhile, there's trouble with the Odyssey team,
26:38who can't raise enough money for the flight.
26:40They decide to postpone for a year.
26:45The other teams could be ahead of us right now because of funding.
26:48Fawcett's obviously self-funded.
26:50Branson's self-funded.
26:52So they have an advantage.
26:54They've got a lot of money behind them.
26:56Unfortunately, I would say the odds are against
26:58any of the teams making it this year.
27:02On September 19th, a disturbing news story.
27:05Troops in the former Soviet Republic of Belarus
27:08have shot down an American balloon
27:10that had flown into its airspace.
27:12The two pilots were killed.
27:14The implications for all the global balloonists are ominous.
27:21Russian cosmonaut Vladimir Zinibakov
27:23is invited to breakfast by Branson
27:25to give his advice on getting permission
27:27to fly over foreign airspace.
27:31How are you?
27:32The actual shooting down of the two balloonists,
27:36you say that they were coming straight towards
27:39a very sensitive nuclear area.
27:43Yes.
27:44This is very close to the position
27:48with the nuclear rockets.
27:53We believe that the base was so secret
27:55it wasn't even on the Western maps.
27:57So we are going to need to talk to some of these embassies.
27:59I mean, the Iranian embassy, actually.
28:01I know the ambassador.
28:02I've met him on a few occasions.
28:03Oh, really?
28:04And he's very charming.
28:08Selecting the right route
28:09could be a matter of life and death.
28:11Luckily, Branson owns an airline,
28:13which ought to know how to avoid being shot down.
28:16We went through yesterday
28:17the countries that we're likely to fly over,
28:19and some of them we've black-spotted,
28:21and we're obviously mindful of what's gone on in Belarus
28:24only a matter of a few weeks back.
28:26I think we're just going to have to inform a lot of countries,
28:29and then, you know,
28:30about 48 hours before we hit a country,
28:32you're just going to have to scramble,
28:33and if the absolute worst comes to the worst,
28:35we just have to decide whether to take a risk
28:37and, you know, go off air for 24 hours.
28:40They've got ways of making you descend, though.
28:44The fear of a forced descent prompts the three men
28:47to do some serious training.
28:55Three weeks behind schedule,
28:56the balloonists finally make time to practice
28:59for a crash landing in the water.
29:11Any ditching is both dangerous and confusing.
29:14You have to know how to get out of the capsule,
29:16even if you're upside down.
29:20I thought the tank training was more realistic than I expected.
29:29The primary problem, I felt, was the fact you couldn't see.
29:34It gave me a lot of respect for the water.
29:38I must admit, respect I didn't have before.
29:42Even as they storm-test the capsule,
29:44team members begin to pour cold water on the project's chances.
29:50As far as I'm concerned,
29:51if they land more than 250 miles off the coast of the Pacific,
29:55they're effectively dead.
29:56I can't get them, and that's the big one for me.
30:02Rory, too, is worried.
30:03As the new guy, will he be ready in time?
30:08The truth of the matter is,
30:10I'm almost the most untrained part of this project
30:13because they at least have flown the Atlantic and the Pacific.
30:16They have experience of being in these enclosed environments,
30:20over the seas.
30:22I've never done that.
30:23But Richard Branson didn't get where he is today
30:27by being a pessimist.
30:28Rory obviously hasn't flown a balloon of this size before,
30:32but he's a pilot,
30:33and I'm sure he'll pick it up extremely quickly.
30:35As far as helium balloons are concerned,
30:37I mean, Per has only had a few hours' experience
30:40of actually flying a helium balloon.
30:42There are very few people who have had more than a few hours.
30:44There are a number of critical tests,
30:47such as ice formation on the balloon,
30:50the operation of the helium gas valve,
30:52the balloons behaving in the jet stream, etc.
30:55Regretfully, they weren't carried out.
30:57How critical is this test flight now?
30:59Would you fly the project without doing this test flight?
31:02I mean, is there anything you've learned
31:04that you don't need this test flight now?
31:06Again, entry to the jet has not been explored.
31:09Icing hasn't been explored.
31:11It wasn't a financial thing.
31:12I think it just became...
31:14I mean, Per is up to his neck in running a business
31:17and building this project.
31:19It just became one of those things
31:21which just nobody had time to get done.
31:24But we haven't had the luxury of time,
31:26and there has been a budget.
31:29And therefore, I believe that...
31:34I'm not saying corners have been cut.
31:36I think that's too dramatic.
31:39But I don't believe that all the safety precautions
31:43and particularly research into problems we might face
31:48have been properly tested.
31:50So there are places where there's no way
31:52that anyone can get to you apart from our own resources?
31:56Right, but I don't think we can just ad-lib that when the time comes.
32:00You know, we're taking a few risks.
32:03Per, what's your view?
32:05I mean, can we find the money? That's what I'm saying.
32:12The risk factor of this project, purely through unknowns,
32:16has gone up exponentially.
32:18We're flying in a balloon that has never been tested.
32:22We're flying in a capsule that has never been tested.
32:28In spite of all the unresolved difficulties,
32:31and the unrelenting pressure of time,
32:33they suspend all work on the capsule
32:35so it can be driven to London for a press conference and reception.
32:44Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon,
32:48has been flown to London to unveil the unfinished capsule.
32:51It's an unveiling for Branson and McCarthy too,
32:54practically the first time they see it.
32:57It is of great concern that none of the other two people
33:00have actually spent any time whatsoever
33:02practising for the mission with the balloon equipment,
33:05apart from being inside the capsule
33:08for a brief moment during the press conference.
33:14None of them have actually been inside,
33:16sat in there, going through the system,
33:18being told how it's engineered, checklists.
33:21There's been no time spent whatsoever.
33:23How much would you like to be going?
33:25I haven't been asked, and I'm not sure.
33:27I'm pretty busy right now.
33:29There's no way that either Rory or Richard
33:31could actually land the balloon.
33:33Rory hasn't got a balloon licence,
33:35nor has he any balloon training.
33:37In terms of preparation specifically for this project,
33:40no, I have not prepared
33:43to a level that I feel comfortable with.
33:47Flying a balloon isn't that difficult a thing to do.
33:51After a couple of days working together flying,
33:55after a few hours working together flying,
33:58we will soon know everything there is to know
34:02about what's inside that capsule.
34:05The real place to learn is actually in flight.
34:08And if Pair was incapacitated,
34:10the same thing would have to happen
34:12that happened when we crossed the Atlantic,
34:14and I'd just have to cope.
34:16I can skydive from there. I've done it.
34:19I know what it involves.
34:21I can even hold my breath and skydive from there and survive.
34:25Um...
34:27But what's Richard going to do?
34:30The last time Richard Branson skydived,
34:33he nearly killed himself.
34:35When the moment came, he pulled the wrong handle.
34:38He'd lost his parachute completely.
34:41His instructor saved him by releasing an emergency chute.
34:47For Branson, parachuting from 30,000 feet
34:50will not be an easy option.
34:52It's far more likely that I will finally end up dying
34:55from something which I hadn't prepared for,
34:58than something like a balloon attempt
35:00where we're well-prepared and realize the dangers
35:03and are ready and willing to cope with them.
35:06It's not easy.
35:08It's not easy.
35:10It's not easy.
35:12It's not easy.
35:14It's not easy.
35:16It's not easy.
35:18It's not easy.
35:20It's not easy.
35:22It's not easy.
35:24It's not easy.
35:26It's not easy.
35:28It's not easy.
35:30It's not easy.
35:32It's not easy.
35:34It's not easy.
35:36It's not easy.
35:38It's not easy.
35:40It's not easy.
35:43Seven weeks after the balloon should have been on the launch site,
35:46it's still being made.
35:50We are on a plan now to have the balloon ready
35:52between Christmas and New Year, and it will be ready.
35:54But that was due to an immense amount of sacrifice
35:57by the girls working there,
35:59because it's tough to work three shifts, seven days a week.
36:01Over Christmas, the balloon is tested for leaks,
36:04but patience, time, and money are running out.
36:08People are concerned about being paid,
36:11and there were times we couldn't pay people,
36:14which was obviously a great destroyer of morale.
36:17That has been repaired now,
36:19but it has been replaced to a degree with very frail nerves
36:22as it comes to getting it ready in time.
36:25Too few people working too many hours with not enough pay.
36:29It's not a good recipe for quality control.
36:32A minor blemish in the balloon fabric could spell disaster.
36:38Four days before Christmas,
36:40John calls Branson, who's taken his family to the Caribbean.
36:43The English weather is terrible.
36:45Should they also move south to the sunshine?
36:47Five. Five hours.
36:51Hello, Richard?
36:52Yeah.
36:53It's Mike and Per and Dave Partridge.
36:55Hi, Mike. Hi, Per. How are you doing?
36:57We've got the maps of Tunisia and Morocco with us.
37:01Fine.
37:02Now, on the weather side,
37:04we're comfortable that we're going to get
37:06the right ground conditions in Marrakesh.
37:09Even the most basic research provides calm weather conditions
37:12up until about 12 o'clock.
37:14OK, so the take-off and obviously for the jet stream,
37:17it's obviously better, right?
37:19So that's weather.
37:21There's no reason why we shouldn't just be able to take off
37:24within a handful of days, is there?
37:26We should be ready on site technically to go,
37:29say, January 8, 9, 10, 10 the latest.
37:33BELL RINGS
37:38The total cost of going to Marrakesh over the UK,
37:42I think, would be in excess of £100,000.
37:47You really think you can get it all in
37:49within less than £100,000?
37:51Well, not less. I said in excess.
37:54OK, good. So let's get to work on that.
37:59Any more news from America of the other cut ballooners
38:02that have taken off yet?
38:04Hank Brink has gone totally and utterly dead.
38:07Right.
38:08But Steve Fawcett is definitely flying
38:10and expect him to inflate within a week or two.
38:13After New Year's, Steve Fawcett announces that he'll take off.
38:19But the outer skin of his balloon begins to tear
38:22even before he leaves the ground.
38:24I've got some light I'd take.
38:30Not to be discouraged, Fawcett launches anyway,
38:33and the race is on.
38:36It's so difficult to predict the next 30 days.
38:40We may well be throwing a party for Steve Fawcett
38:42because I think if he achieves what he's set out to achieve
38:45and beats us, I think he would achieve something
38:48even greater than what we're trying to achieve.
38:51The next day, Branson announces he will launch in five days.
38:55There is a race on, and if that means
38:58doing what Steve Fawcett's done,
39:00that is, say, taking off a day or two before
39:02perhaps the actual, absolutely ideal conditions are there
39:06in order to try to catch him up,
39:08I suspect that's something which is in our temperaments to do.
39:13The news comes as something of a shock to Rory.
39:17I've been very busy. I haven't been going to the gym.
39:20I haven't been concentrating on my diet.
39:22I haven't done parachute training that I should have done.
39:26Rich has been phenomenally busy.
39:28Per has up his eyeballs building the project.
39:31I'm concerned that we're going to go down on Friday
39:35and get in a balloon on Sunday and go around the world.
39:38In some ways, it will make the achievement
39:41that much more astounding.
39:43The balloon is loaded aboard a specially adapted
39:46transport plane that Branson has borrowed.
39:49Everything, men, machine, and misgivings, moves to Morocco.
40:02The balloon's new home is a hangar at Marrakesh Airport.
40:06It's finally arrived at its launch site
40:08more than ten weeks behind schedule.
40:10The Moroccan military had helpfully hosed down
40:12the hangar the previous day.
40:15Unfortunately, it's still ankle-deep in water.
40:22Hundreds of troops have been volunteered to help,
40:25but sweeping water out of hangars
40:27is apparently not in their job description.
40:32Eventually, the men join in the fun,
40:35and the multinational crew teams up
40:37for the big push.
40:42The merest snag or speck of dirt could cause a delay,
40:45so boots are removed and zippers carefully taped over.
40:56Once the hangar is clean and dry,
40:58the balloon is carefully laid out.
41:07The doors are left open to complete the drying process.
41:10Sadly, someone has forgotten to tell the pilots.
41:14It's a graphic demonstration of what really happens
41:17when the stuff hits the fan.
41:20Dust from the tarmac funnels back into the hangar,
41:23and the work of hours is wasted.
41:25The forecast for a takeoff in three days
41:28begins to look very unlikely.
41:32The project needs a boost,
41:34so the crew is relieved to hear
41:36that Steve Fawcett has given up
41:38and landed in New Brunswick, Canada.
41:40Three days into his trip,
41:42the balloon shredded in midair.
41:44Bill!
41:46Hey, Dakota, smile!
41:49Mr. Fawcett, how do you feel?
41:52Rather disappointed and embarrassed
41:55that I didn't do better on this.
41:59A thousand miles away in Holland,
42:01Henk Brink is also worried.
42:04My balloon is three and a half, four times bigger
42:07than Steve Fawcett's balloon,
42:09so if the same had happened to me
42:11half a day after takeoff,
42:13flying over the Alps,
42:15I can't see how I could ever have landed safely.
42:19Brink's balloon is made by the same manufacturer as Fawcett's,
42:22so there are faults with his fabric, too.
42:25The Civil Aviation Authority here in Holland,
42:28they have grounded my balloon
42:31after five years of work.
42:37Undeterred by their rival's failure,
42:39the Branson team is buoyant.
42:41Another country, another photo opportunity.
42:45The team unpacks their jumpsuits,
42:47the astronaut makes what turns out to be
42:49a very rude gesture in Morocco,
42:51and the aircraft,
42:53tries to redeem itself.
42:55I love this. God, I love this.
42:58To increase his aerodynamic profile,
43:01Rory shaves his head completely,
43:03and everybody gives their jumpsuits a test flight.
43:06And then, it starts to rain.
43:17Well, it's strange.
43:18Obviously, we came to Morocco
43:19for perfect launch conditions,
43:21and they've had a five-year drought,
43:23and suddenly we have a low right over the top of us,
43:26and the weatherman's saying that at least a week,
43:28maybe ten days, before we can take off.
43:31Had the weather been perfect,
43:33we would have possibly been there today.
43:36And that would have left me with an uneasy feeling
43:39of people's deep understanding of the system.
43:41To impart the minimum acceptable level
43:44for a safe action during an emergency is possible,
43:48but it means a week on site,
43:50and now it looks like I got that week.
43:53This is the satellite software,
43:55which will allow you to talk to the outside world.
43:58Technically, I could say every three hours,
44:00but if you're in transit and looking at the bird,
44:02then it's not an issue.
44:04Outside of here, you have a boom this way,
44:06and you have a boom that way.
44:08When you see ready on the screen, you've done it.
44:10As you see, I've set up a window here,
44:12global challenger email.
44:13When I flew down, the news was that we were about to go.
44:16We've now been down here a few days.
44:18The bad weather has prevented us from going.
44:20It's given me a chance to be around the engineers
44:23and the technicians to ask all the questions
44:25about all the stuff that I was worried about.
44:27And actually, I'm feeling incredibly positive.
44:29I'm really looking forward to going.
44:31You cannot pull it out once you've screwed it in.
44:33Oh, you can, yes. Your system screws again.
44:35Once you've screwed it in, you can't pull it out now.
44:37If it was not working,
44:38how do you know whether it's open or closed?
44:40There are a hundred details to learn.
44:42GPS navigation equipment,
44:44VHF, UHF,
44:46and satellite telephone link-ups,
44:48burner and pressurization systems,
44:50emergency procedures,
44:52and most important,
44:53cameras for live television transmissions.
44:58There's quite a lot of training to do.
45:00I mean, it is a little more than with a hot air balloon.
45:03The important thing is actually just having time
45:06to talk together back at the hotel,
45:08just going through all the sort of what-if scenarios.
45:11Per, I've got a question.
45:13If we actually, if we're pushed up into the Arctic
45:15and we stay up high,
45:17and we actually then cross the longitudinal line around here,
45:20will we actually have made the record?
45:22Per has done a fantastic job.
45:24And he's had to do it, at the end of the day,
45:27even at the extended budget,
45:29you know, whatever the eventual price is going to be,
45:32even that has had, the corners have been cut.
45:35So the original calculation was flawed.
45:38And I don't know who's responsible.
45:40And I don't know who's responsible for that.
45:42But this project could never have been done for 1.5 million pounds.
45:45Never.
45:47There are very much unsolved contractual obligations
45:52between Virgin and ourselves
45:54that must be resolved before I'm going to fly the balloon.
45:57So when you melt it together, you form a bond at 140 degrees.
46:00Right.
46:01Should you, however, heat the entire balloon to 140 degrees,
46:04it will totally fall apart in its components.
46:07And it will be 140 panels raining down.
46:10I think that there's enough stress in this project without adding to it.
46:14So I'm just keeping a positive mental attitude towards it.
46:19We need each other.
46:21What we're doing is potentially life-threatening.
46:27Can you imagine if we didn't gel together as a team?
46:32To help the gelling process, Rory, Per, and Richard hit the town.
46:36The team that plays together stays together.
46:45Richard and Rory try to drum up team spirit
46:48by wearing indigenous headgear
46:50and dancing like someone's uncle at a wedding.
46:53Per, however, decides to sit this one out.
47:02I'm also about to step in the balloon with two individuals
47:05who perhaps aren't getting on as well as they should be,
47:07but on the face of it, it seems to be all right.
47:09And I feel that, you know, if these things need sorting out,
47:12or there has to be a blood,
47:14for God's sake, do it now, before we get in this council.
47:25And still it rains.
47:30Only three weeks remain before the fast midwinter jet streams
47:33will disappear until the end of the year.
47:35Are they ever going to take off?
47:39Barakas.
47:45Finally, it looks as if the weather might clear.
47:51They rehearse an inflation in preparation for takeoff.
48:04Vroom!
48:21Whirring!
48:29The pressures of weather, money, and training
48:32have been such that the problem of getting permission
48:35to fly over neighboring countries has still not been secured.
48:39Without these permissions, they could be shot out of the sky.
48:43Three out of four countries in their immediate flight path
48:46are prepared to do just that.
48:48Algeria is the first.
48:53France is friends of Algeria, Britain's friends of Algeria.
48:56I mean, you know, if we can't sort Algeria out,
48:58we can't sort anything out, so...
49:01According to the Portuguese, Libya may shoot.
49:04Libya will shoot.
49:06You should see what the facts they've written. It is very firm.
49:09Virgin Atlantic, Global Challenger.
49:11Regret, permission is not granted.
49:13Please avoid entering Tripoli.
49:15F-I-R. Stop. Best regards.
49:19Stop. Best regards.
49:24Luckily, Branson, citizen of the world,
49:27has a few contacts up his sleeve.
49:32Is Crown Prince Hassan in, please?
49:36The Crown Prince Hassan?
49:45Hello? No.
49:48Right, is the Crown Prince in, please?
49:56It's Richard Branson, B-R-A-N-S-O-N.
50:01Branson? Yes, Branson. Yes.
50:05Good morning, Downing Street.
50:07Can I have Mr Major's office, please?
50:09What country am I talking about?
50:11Next one along. Algeria.
50:13Hello? Edward?
50:15Richard, hello. Oh, dear, I'm so sorry.
50:17I've got one more country which needs doing.
50:20Algeria. I just wondered whether we could have
50:22an identical letter to Saudi Arabia.
50:24It seems that we're finding that overflying clearances
50:28is tougher than actually flying the balloon.
50:31Theoretically, we should make it back to Europe soon.
50:34We have a small problem in that Libya has sent us a fax
50:38saying that we can't fly over their country.
50:41What a bore.
50:43I'm not quite sure what your relationships are like with Libya.
50:46Well, you can only imagine.
50:48Are they reasonable or are they not so good?
50:51Well, it depends on him rather than us, I think.
50:54Sorry? But we'll certainly give it a go. Why not?
50:57We've really just got to give it two weeks to sort it out.
51:00If we can't sort it out, we're just going to have to abandon it until next year.
51:20Sadly, all the hot air in politics can't float the balloon.
51:25My vote would be to go to Qaddaf in Groble.
51:29It seems like the only thing we can do.
51:33As a last, desperate measure, they take out the Atlas.
51:37The next country past Libya is Egypt.
51:39Will the conditions for take-off be better there?
51:42The indication is that this is fairly windy.
51:44Certainly, the wind observations at Cairo airport
51:47show fairly consistent winds.
51:49Luxor is much more sheltered.
51:53If we assume Egypt, all we have to do is find out about local weather
51:56and define the location.
51:58Then we have to work out a critical path for the transport.
52:00Why don't we just try to transport it down the Nile?
52:02Seriously, let's look at it.
52:04OK? A lovely thing to do.
52:06We only have 17 days left, effectively.
52:09In 17 days, we've got to pack, uproot, move to Cairo,
52:14truck down to Luxor.
52:16But the real big problem is three helium trailers at 42 tonne each.
52:2016.1.
52:22I wouldn't say it's impossible.
52:25But, well, not impossible.
52:27So, the year's running out.
52:30The last shot.
52:32We could just go to Egypt,
52:35drive the balloon there,
52:37and when that doesn't work out, we'll carry on to India.
52:40And by the end of the year or so, we'll be around the world.
52:43A sea freight across to Japan.
52:47In the end, they decide to pack up and go home.
52:51They're now waiting until the strong jet stream reforms in November to try again.
52:56They mothballed a capsule and left it in Marrakesh.
53:17As it turned out, it didn't work out,
53:20but if we'd actually sailed in Greenwich or gone to Oxford,
53:24it wouldn't have worked out either,
53:26so at least the odds were that much better.
53:31When you do a project of this magnitude,
53:34you can't expect plain sailing.
53:36There will be friction, there will be problems,
53:39and we had our fair share of problems.
53:41All those problems, hopefully, we can straighten out this year,
53:45and start with a clean sheet.
53:55In the winter of 96-97,
53:57Fawcett, Odyssey, Branson and Brink intend to try again,
54:02but this time they may face even more competition.
54:05Others have had time to plan.
54:07Throughout the year, more balloonists have declared their willingness
54:10to fly around the world in an unpowered balloon.
54:15All are driven by a belief that a dream, once thought impossible,
54:19may be just within reach.
54:38Follow the latest attempts to circumnavigate the globe in a balloon.
54:42Lift off from NOVA's website at pbs.org.
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