Millionaire Vijaypat Singhania yesterday broke the world record for the highest flight in a hot air balloon and reached the fringes of space, his son claimed.
Singhania, 67, surpassed 21,000m a little more than two hours after taking off in his 40-tonne balloon, and has started his descent, his son Gautam said.
"We have the world record at 69,000 feet," said Gautam Singhania. "We're bringing him down now."
The previous world record was 19,811m, set by Sweden's Per Lindstrand in Plano, Texas, in June 1988.
"The exact height reached was 21,290.89 meters. This is subject to certification," said Colin Prescott, one of two British designers of the balloon.
The record could not be independently verified immediately.
A sealed altimeter, a GPS (global positioning system) unit and a barograph were installed inside the capsule to determine the balloon's height, Prescott said. On landing, the seals will be broken and the instruments submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records for verification.
Singhania lifted off from downtown Mumbai at 6:45am, enclosed in a pressurized cabin suspended from the 50m-tall multicolored balloon.
He was expected to take more than two hours to get back to Earth, probably landing in Nashik, a town about 100km northeast of Mumbai, depending on wind speed and direction.
Singharia's wife said she would not be able to relax until he was safely back on the ground.
"I was really scared, am still scared until he lands. When I heard that he had broken the record, I became numb in mind and heart," said Asha Singharia.
Prescott said the enormous size of the balloon could pose a problem.
"Now the challenge is to land it safely. The lighter the wind, the easier it will be to land," he said.
Before taking off in downtown Bombay cheered by hundreds of residents and a marching band, Singhania said he expected to break the record.
"I'm very excited but very nervous and confident I'll make it," Singhania said.
Vedant Kumar, 7, watched the balloon's ascent through a pair of binoculars until it became a just speck in the sky.
"I wish I could follow him in a helicopter," he exclaimed, hopping from foot to foot with excitement. A helicopter was following the balloon to monitor wind direction for the landing. Kumar said he was trying to persuade his parents to take him to the landing site.
The entire voyage was broadcast live on national television using cameras on board the helicopter, inside the balloon's cabin and on the ground.
The temperature outside the balloon was expected to fall as low as minus 93?C and oxygen was negligible. Before taking off, Singhania stressed the importance of the pressurized cabin, saying that if he was exposed to such temperatures his "blood would boil."
A unit on the ground was monitoring oxygen levels and other life support systems inside the cabin.
Singhania, the chairman emeritus of the Raymond Group, one of India's leading textile companies, also set a record for ultralight aviation 17 years ago when he flew 9,655km from Britain to India in 23 days.
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
PERILOUS JOURNEY: Over just a matter of days last month, about 1,600 Afghans who were at risk of perishing due to the cold weather were rescued in the mountains Habibullah set off from his home in western Afghanistan determined to find work in Iran, only for the 15-year-old to freeze to death while walking across the mountainous frontier. “He was forced to go, to bring food for the family,” his mother, Mah Jan, said at her mud home in Ghunjan village. “We have no food to eat, we have no clothes to wear. The house in which I live has no electricity, no water. I have no proper window, nothing to burn for heating,” she added, clutching a photograph of her son. Habibullah was one of at least 18 migrants who died
Russia early yesterday bombarded Ukraine, killing two people in the Kyiv region, authorities said on the eve of a diplomatic summit in France. A nationwide siren was issued just after midnight, while Ukraine’s military said air defenses were operating in several places. In the capital, a private medical facility caught fire as a result of the Russian strikes, killing one person and wounding three others, the State Emergency Service of Kyiv said. It released images of rescuers removing people on stretchers from a gutted building. Another pre-dawn attack on the neighboring city of Fastiv killed one man in his 70s, Kyiv Governor Mykola
RSS