BBC News Online: Special Report

Special report: Aviation's last great challenge

Orbiter 3 - Ups and Downs
Read how BBC News Online plotted the progress of the first round-the-world balloon journey.

Sky-high hopes
Take a look at the teams who competed to be first past this milestone.

Health at 20,000ft
Bertrand Piccard in the Breilting Orbiter is said to have used self-hypnosis to get to sleep. Our health team look at what enduring a record-breaking flight can do to your health.

Life inside the balloon
You need to be made of the right stuff to get on board a global balloon - and last the psychological distance.

Making history in a balloon
For more than 200 years balloonists have gone up, up and away making history.

Flying through the ages
People have been finding ways to navigate the sky for several hundred years.

Balloon Websites go up
Internet Correspondent Chris Nuttall gives you the lowdown on the teams' Internet sites.

The driving force
What makes them do it? Is there a prize? And what are the rules of the game?

Flights of fancy - for you?
If you are inspired by these adventurers, ballooning might not be as expensive as you think.

Elson and Prescot answer your questions
Before their attempt ended in failure over Japan, the Cable and Wireless team told you all you needed to know about smashing the endurance record to taking a walk outside the capsule.

Send in YOUR reaction to the first round-the-world balloon trip:

Internet Links

Team Remax
International Aviation Federation - Ballooning Commission
Ballooning News
Breitling Orbiter 3
J Renee
Cable and Wireless balloon
ICO Global

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In this section

Balloonists: Next stop Geneva
Stranded balloonists rescued
Desert touchdown for balloon heroes
News Online users cheer record balloonists
Balloonists soar into history
Sky-high hopes
Balloons make history
Ballooning's 'triumph of a dream'