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From: C-afp@clari.net (AFP)
Newsgroups: clari.world.africa.northwestern,clari.world.mideast+africa
Subject: Branson leaves Marrakesh on new balloon attempt
Organization: Copyright 1998 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
Message-ID: <Qbranson-balloonURtJ-_8DI.RL4M_8DI@clari.net>
Lines: 54
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1998 8:16:13 PST
ACategory: international
Slugword: Branson-balloon
Threadword: branson
Priority: urgent
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   MARRAKESH, Morocco, Dec 18 (AFP) - British tycoon Richard  
Branson took off in a balloon from a military base in Marrakesh on 
Friday on his third attempt at circumnavigating the world, an AFP 
correspondent on the scene reported. 
   He was accompanied on the ICO Global Challenge balloon by his  
former round-the-world rival Steve Fosset, and a technician, Per 
Lindstrand. 
   The 40,000 cubic metre balloon and 14-tonne cabin rose gently to  
disappear behind the Atlas mountains. 
   Before takeoff, Branson said he planned to rise quickly to a  
height of around 9,000 metres (30,000 feet) to catch the powerful 
jet stream winds which could propel the balloon around the world in 
two or three weeks. 
   The five million dollar adventure, financed by the US-based ICO  
Global Communications, should take the team across north Africa, 
northern Turkey, close to the Iraqi border, and then to India and 
the southeast Asian peninsula. 
   The balloon, which carries six tonnes of propane, is then due to  
fly over the island of Borneo and to cross the Pacific Ocean to 
reach Vancouver, on Canada's eastern seabord. 
   It will cross southern Greenland, and if all goes well, head for  
the British Isles. 
   The three balloonists hope to complete the trip in less than two  
weeks. They are confined to a space of about three cubic metres (100 
cubic feet) and will take it in turns to sleep in a specially built 
cot. 
   They will have to drink some five litres (quarts) of water a day  
to prevent dehydration. The cabin has a microwave oven to heat their 
meals of fresh vegetables and fruit, supplemented with vitamins and 
amino acids. 
   Sanitary facilities are similar to those found on commercial  
airliners. 
   The team will train daily, using exercises based on those of  
NASA astronauts. 
   Among their rewards if they succeed in being the first to float  
non-stop around the world in a lighter-than-air craft will be a 
million dollars from the US brewery Anheuser-Busch. 
   Branson, making his third attempt, failed in 1996 when he was  
forced to land in Algeria less than 24 hours after taking off from 
Marrakesh. 
   A planned trip last year was aborted before it got off the  
ground. The balloon envelope broke away from its guy-ropes during 
inflation. Three days later it fell to the ground near the Algerian 
village of Tindouf. 
   For Steve Fosset, this is a fifth attempt at the feat. His  
latest attempt, in August, ended when his balloon was damaged in a 
storm over the Pacific, close to the Great Barrier Reef, 10 days 
after his departure from Mendoza in Argentina. 
   Fosset already holds eight ballooning records, including those  
gained by a solo crossing of the Pacific and the four longest 
distances flown by a balloon. 
  	   	

