BIRDSVILLE, Australia (AP) — Steve Fossett landed his Spirit of Freedom balloon early Thursday near a dried up lake in the Australian Outback, finally ending his record breaking around-the-world trip.
Associated Press photographer Rob Griffith, who was flying overhead, saw Fossett touch down safely in the remote Australian desert about 870 miles northwest of Sydney early on July 4, Australian time.
The capsule bumped along the ground for about 15 minutes before it stopped and Fossett clambered out, Griffith said.
Officials at mission control in St. Louis, Missouri said they had heard Fossett had touched down, but had not yet been in contact with him to confirm it.
Just hours earlier, the American adventurer had to leave his capsule in the freezing Australian night to put out a fire caused by a loose burner hose.
“Even though the (round the world) is completed, I really nervous until I can get this balloon on the ground,” Fossett wrote earlier in an e-mail to his mission control staff in St. Louis.
The 58-year-old Chicago millionaire sailed into the record books Tuesday night as he crossed east of 117 degrees longitude to become the first person to fly solo around the world in a balloon.
But gusty winds in Australia meant he had to wait until early Thursday to touch down.
Fossett said the fire started immediately after a hose fitting came loose. He was able to put out the fire by shutting off a ball valve joint, which is used to attach the hose to propane fuel tanks and the balloon’s burner.
The shock of hearing about the fire — the first emergency of Fossett’s sixth attempt to circumnavigate the globe — came with relief at mission control, since Fossett reported the fire in the same note in which he said it was out.
“When it happened, it was a big deal,” said Joe Ritchie, Fossett’s mission control director. “Even though the flight is over and you’re flying low, you can still get killed.”
