The British adventurer was forced to crash land on Monday afternoon when his oxygen supply failed several hours after his take-off in Chile.

Mr Hempleman-Adams, 42, from Box, near Bath, plans to make a second attempt to complete the 120-mile journey to Argentina on Tuesday.

He is flying with fellow adventurer Rune Gjeldnes, who plans to parachute from the balloon as it soars to heights of 30,000ft and land on the 23,000ft Mount Aconcagua, the highest peak in the South American mountain range.

The polar explorer has little experience of balloons

The aborted trip on Monday is only the latest setback for the duo.

Their Typhoo Challenger balloon team had been grounded by bad weather since 2 December.

Originally it was intended that the balloon would take off near the Chilean capital of Santiago. But it was moved to a new site to the north with better weather.

Mr Hempleman-Adams has climbed the highest summit on each continent and has walked to the geographic and magnetic poles at each end of the globe.

But he is a comparative ballooning novice with only 30 hours' flying experience.

Political problems

Last month there were fears that the attempt might have to be cancelled, because of the political situation in Chile.

Concerns were raised following anti-British riots after the House of Lords decided not to allow the former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet to return home from London, where he faces possible extradition to Spain.

But Mr Hempleman-Adams brushed aside the risk.

"I have been to Chile a lot of times The people are fantastic. I have never got involved in the politics over there.

"We are just simple adventurers and I am sure we will be accepted as such," he said at the time.

"To be honest, though, I have taken off the British badges on the balloon just in case."