Wiltshire explorer's attempt to cross Atlantic in hydrogen balloon thwarted
Sir David Hempleman-Adams abandoned the mission due to poor weather
A British explorer has had his plans to cross the Atlantic in a hydrogen balloon thwarted mid-way through the attempt.
Sir David Hempleman-Adams had been hoping to cross the ocean in an open-basket hydrogen balloon - with the goal of reaching the UK later this week.
The expedition began when he and a team of two fellow scientists and entrepreneurs left Presque Isle in the American state of Maine at around 10:30p.m. local time.
However, just seven hours into the journey, the trio - who were travelling on the Torabhaig Atlantic Explorer - were forced to land before entering the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in Canada.
This was the third time that the initiative had been attempted, having been postponed twice due to poor weather conditions.
For the third time, the weather had "cleared up perfectly" to allow the attempt to go ahead, but it was soon discovered that the balloon would need to fly at a higher altitude, requiring more ballast - a material used to stabilise a structure.
Giving the update, a spokesperson for the mission said: "The crew have decided to land the balloon before the Gulf of St Lawrence. They concluded they would not have had enough ballast to make it to Europe."
The air balloon landed at 9:40a.m. local time near the town of Christies Landing in the Canadian province of New Brunswick.
"The crew are safe and well," the spokeswoman said. "It was a very difficult decision and they are obviously extremely disappointed but safety is obviously paramount.
"They flew for about seven hours, the highest level they flew at was 10,000 feet and about 125 nautical miles in distance."
As well as this, she confirmed that the initiative would be attempted once again, depending on conditions for the weather.
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