American balloonists, Dick Rutan and David Melton, have delayed their attempt to circumnavigate the world in a hot-air balloon from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The launch time, which is dependent upon weather conditions, was provisionally scheduled for the early hours of January 6, in a launch window that is open until March.

But their balloon, the Global Hilton, has now been delayed by an estimated 10 days because of problematic winds over the Atlantic.

The pilot of the Global Hilton, David Melton, said: "You work for months to get to this point, then a few hours before you plan to take off you're delayed. Of course we're upset, it's a let down, but we know we'll have another try at it."

Fellow American Steve Fossett was forced to land his hot air balloon, Solo Spirit, in Russia on Monday, when his heating system broke down after four and a half days in the air.

Another balloonist, Kevin Uliassi, made an attempt last Wednesday. He took off from Loves Park, Illinois, in a balloon named the J Renee. A faulty vent on the craft forced him to land about two hours later in northern Indiana.

Both Steve Fossett and Kevin Uliassi were flying in unpressurised gondolas at 18,000ft.

After his failure, Mr Fossett has questioned whether the feat can be accomplished by this type of balloon. Other balloons have pressurised cabins which allow them to fly at a higher altitude.

The Global Hilton

The Global Hilton team have said they aim to circle the Earth, fuelled by a combination of helium and hot air, in about 14 days.

Dick Rutan and Dave Melton are both veteran balloonists and aviators. Mr Melton was involved in several world flight attempts in the 1990s and has more than 15 years of ballooning experience.

Mr Rutan, who has been flying planes since he was 16 years old, has flown into the record books once already. In 1986 he piloted a special plane called Voyager around the world in a non-stop flight of nine days with no refuelling stops.

Also a retired Tactical Air Command fighter pilot with the American Air Force, Mr Rutan flew 325 combat missions in Vietnam.

In their balloon flight the pair will fly on the edge of the stratosphere suspended below a 170-ft 'Rozier' balloon.

The craft has a pressurised cabin, and they plan to fly near the heart of the jet stream at about 30,000ft.

Other Competitors

Co-pilots Bertrand Piccard, from Switzerland, Wim Verstraeten, from Belgium, and Andrew Elton of the UK plan to take off in their Breitling Orbiter 2 on January 8. They have a pressurised cabin and plan to fly at about 20,000ft.  

British millionaire Richard Branson and his team members, Per Lindstrand and Rory McCarthy, also plan another attempt in the next few weeks. Disaster struck the Virgin Global Challenger team in December when the balloon part of the craft tore loose and was damaged as it came down in the Sahara desert.

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