Balloon flight continues

Balloon flight continues

ST. LOUIS, Missouri (Reuters): U.S. adventurer Steve Fossett headed across the Indian Ocean yesterday, trying to find an altitude that would carry him neither too far north nor south to reach Australia in his bid to become the first to fly around the world nonstop in a balloon.

At midnight EDT (11 p.m. Jakarta time) as he entered the sixth day of his journey, Fossett was 1,287 km southeast of Cape Town at 7,429 meters. He had traversed 10,933 km since taking to the sky over western Argentina last Friday.

He already has two achievements in his flight jacket -- first to cross the South Atlantic in a balloon, and second-longest manned balloon flight. The latter he accomplished Tuesday when he passed his own record of flight, 9,337 km, which he had set during his last around-the-world bid.

Fossett, a 54-year-old financial markets millionaire, also holds the record for the longest flight -- 16,670 km from the United States to India, set during a 1997 try.