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<br /> Move over of solar powered mobiles and cars. If a report by PTI is to be believed, world’s only solar-powered aircraft, <keyword id="80593" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Solar-Impulse">Solar Impulse</keyword>, will make a stop over in Ahmedabad tomorrow as a part of its maiden global journey. Reaching <keyword id="29128" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="ahmadabad">Ahmadabad</keyword>, Impulse’s aircraft's founders and pilots <keyword id="355271" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Bertrand-Piccard">Bertrand Piccard</keyword> and André Borschberg are likely to stay in the city for two days before leaving for Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, a press release issued by the PR of the solar powered aircraft has confirmed.<br />
<br />
"Solar Impulse will take off from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and land in Ahmedabad after making a first stop over at Muscat in Oman. It will make a pit-stop in Ahmedabad," PTI has quoted the PR firm.<br />
The founder and pilots will also convey the message of clean technologies to government, NGOs and educational institutes. To spread the message of cleanliness and clean energy, aircraft will take a trip above the Ganga in Varanasi. Claimed by the project’s website, Solar Impulse will fly day and night without any aero fuel and thereby contributing to a cleaner sky.<br />
Piccard and Borschberg, during their stay in the city, will reach out to the government, NGOs, universities and schools to spread the message of clean technologies.<br />
<br />
The aircraft is also likely to hover above Ganga river in Varanasi to spread the message of cleanliness and clean energy, an official associated with the project said.<br />
<br />
Solar Impulse is claimed to be the first aircraft to fly day and night without a drop of fuel, propelled solely by the sun's energy, as per the project's website.<br />
<br />
<br />
Made of carbon fibre, The single-seater aircraft has a 72 metre wingspan, larger than that of Boeing-747 and weighs just 2,300 kg, equivalent to the weight of a car, the PTI has further reported.<br />
The 17,248 solar cells built into the wing supply electric motors with renewable energy. <br />
<br />
The solar cells recharge four lithium polymer batteries totalling 633 kg each, which allow the aircraft to fly at night and therefore have virtually unlimited autonomy, the report by the news agency has confirmed.<br />
<br />
The test flight of the aircraft was conducted in the US in 2013. <br />

World's first
solar-powered aircraft to land in Ahmadabad tomorrow

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Solar Impulse" title_caption="The Solar Impulse in 2014." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/574d96009105841d008c5bff-960/2014_10_28_18th_flight_pizzolante_solar_impulse_2_98.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>Solar Impulse</span></p><p class="caption">The Solar Impulse in 2014.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Flying around the world fueled only by sunshine, the Solar Impulse is now two-thirds of the way through the first-ever attempt to fly around the world in a solar-powered aircraft.</p><p>The plane is currently making final preparations for its trip across the Atlantic from the eastern United States.</p><p>Swiss pilots Bertrand Piccard and Andre´ Borschberg, who have alternated legs since the attempt began in Dubai in March of 2015, told Business Insider that although flying the strange, wider-than-a-Boeing-747 aircraft is very challenging, they both very much enjoy it.</p><p>"There is first a feeling of complete freedom because you have no fuel," Piccard said. "This is really the first aircraft with an unlimited endurance."</p><p>For Piccard, whose exploits include being the first - along with partner Brian Jones - to fly around the world in a balloon in 1999, the finicky Solar Impulse took some to get used to.</p><p>Borschberg, a former fighter pilot in the Swiss Air Force who currently holds 8 various aviation world records, agreed.</p><p><span>"At the beginning it was very hard, because everything happens slowly and you tend to over-correct, overreact, over-control and create oscillations," Borschberg said. "</span><span>It takes some time in the simulator."</span></p><p>Control forces are very heavy, and the airplane is especially difficult to handle in turbulence, Borschberg said.</p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Solar Impulse</span></p><p class="caption">Pilots Andre´ Borschberg (left) and Bertrand Piccard.</p></div><p></p></div></div>"Any time we put new pilots, or even pilots that have never flown it, into the simulator, they always crash," Piccard said.</span></p><p><span>The aircraft travels at about 50 mph, and given enough headwind it can maintain the same place over the earth or even go backwards. That can make lining up an approach to an airport a challenge when the wind threatens to blow the aircraft away from the field, Borschberg said.</span></p><p><span>But despite the challenges, both pilots </span>expressed a deep connection with their craft.</p><p><span>"It's an incredible airplane. I mean I love it,</span><span>" Borschberg said. <span>"Sometimes when you talk to test pilots it is like 'It's okay, I did it, but I am glad I don't have to get into the airplane again.' But this is totally not the case."</span></span></p><p><span>"It helped me to fly across the Pacific Ocean for five days, and of course I help it to get its energy, so we became partners in achieving the record flight," Borschberg said.</span></p><p>The machine, currently being kept cool under a large tent alongside the Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown, PA, looks like a prehistoric bird of outrageous proportions. Its carbon fiber bones, visible through the slightly translucent fabric skin, add to the illusion.</p><p>All around it, a team of mechanics and engineers are preparing for the transatlantic crossing.</p><p>Air conditioning units were brought in to keep its batteries cool hum under each wing, and the cockpit's carbon fiber shell sits on the ground beside the aircraft, revealing the complex systems underneath.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="William Fierman" title_caption="Controls for oxygen systems and circuit breaker panels inside the cockpit." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/574dd58f910584cc008c5fb7-960/img_7254.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>William Fierman</span></p><p class="caption">Controls for oxygen systems and circuit breaker panels inside the cockpit.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Behind the pilot's seat, which fully reclines to allow rest periods and a little mobility, several green oxygen tanks keep the pilot alive at altitudes of up to 28,000 feet - nearly the height of Mount Everest. They must wear cold-resistant flight suits in the un-pressurized, unheated cockpit.</p><p>Piccard and Borschberg have their own strategies for dealing with the stresses of extremely long flights. Borschberg practices meditation derived from yoga, while Piccard, a psychiatrist, practices self-hypnosis.</p><p>Borschberg found that he can sleep for about 20 minutes every two hours.</p><p>From the way the pilots talk about their flights, its clear there are two things keeping the Solar Impulse aloft: sunlight and some very heavy duty math.</p><p>Each trip requires serious number crunching by engineers and meteorologists who must calculate the route and timing with the widest margin for error.</p><p>Piccard even brought with him Belgian meteorologist Luc Trullemans, who assisted him during his around the world balloon flight.</p><p>"He's a genius," Piccard said.</p><p>Borschberg will next fly the Solar Impulse from Pennsylvania to John F. Kennedy International in New York City, making a few circles around the Statue of Liberty for good measure.</p><p>From there Piccard will pilot it across the Atlantic, the last major barrier to overcome on the journey to Dubai.</p><p>The flight will roughly retrace the same voyage Charles Lindbergh undertook almost exactly 89 years ago, when he became the first to cross the Atlantic non-stop.</p><p>"It's a technical adventure," <span>Borschberg said.</span> "A human adventure."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Solar Impulse</span></p><p class="caption">The aircraft in flight over Hawaii this year.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>William Fierman</span></p><p class="caption">Technicians prepare the aircraft for its transatlantic journey.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Solar Impulse</span></p><p class="caption">Solar Impulse Over Dubai - where the flight began and where it will end.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/secret-service-protect-sanders-protesters-2016-5">Watch the Secret Service jump to protect Sanders after 5 protesters rushed the stage</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="Q4eDh1MzE6xEPWzaTHIVgwUW8gfpYfdN" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Pilots reveal what it's like to fly a solar-powered plane around the world

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Solar Impulse" title_caption="Solar Impulse takes off from Rabat, Morocco." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5347fd48ecad04d56df05246-960/screen-shot-2014-04-11-at-100043-am-1.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.solarimpulse.com/en/tag/Pictures#.U0f3GK1dWwE">Solar Impulse</a></span></p><p class="caption">Solar Impulse takes off from Rabat, Morocco.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Solar Impulse is a Swiss aircraft designed for long-range flights, traveling under the power of nothing more than sunlight, and it's gearing up to complete a flight around the world in 2015.</p>
<p>The plane employs 17,248 solar cells to harness the sun's energy. As the sun sets, the plane switches over to the energy stored in its batteries. Solar Impulse can, in theory, perpetually stay aloft for as long as a pilot wants to fly.</p>
<p>This is a project dreamed up by Bertrand Piccard, a Swiss who co-piloted a non-stop balloon flight around the world in 1999, and André Borschberg, a Swiss businessman.</p>
<p>Piccard has a family history of exploring - his father was a noted undersea explorer and his grandfather was a prominent balloonist too. Borschberg leads the technical team that actually builds the systems that make Solar Impulse work. <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The two undertook the project as a means of demonstrating that "pioneering spirit, innovation, and clean technologies can change the world."</span></p>

Check Out Solar Impulse, The Solar-Powered Airplane That Can Fly Forever

The cries of pollution of all kinds are hitting the sky. <keyword id="6366055" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="global-warming">Global warming</keyword> is as much a reality as the day light is. In that sense, when science and technology come together with their conscience in the right place, it sure can create miracles for the humankind and increase the longevity of this tiny ball of life called earth.<br />
<br /> When Solar Impulse took off from <keyword id="63248" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Abu-Dhabi">Abu Dhabi</keyword> and landed in Oman, the world exhaled a sigh of both relief and hope. Reason: The world’s first and only solar powered plane holds the potential to change the way we fly. On its broad shoulders that appear grey from the skies above, it carries the fruits of 13-years of research that went into building this plane.<br />
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After Muscat in Oman, the quintessential Ahmadabad in Gujarat played host to the plane. When it landed, the country was thrilled to be part of this groundbreaking technology invention that the world would greatly benefit from. Soon, the plane will leave for Varanasi, making it two stops in India for Solar Impulse 2. Indeed a rare honour, just around the time when India is all set to take on the world economically and historically.<br />
<br /> The founder of <keyword id="2758962" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Solar-Impulse-2-Andre-Borschberg">Solar Impulse 2 Andre Borschberg</keyword> has been at the controls when the single-seater took off from <keyword id="2758961" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Al-Bateen">Al Bateen</keyword> Executive Airport. Borschberg and Solar Impulse co-founder Bertrand Piccard are alternating as pilots as the plane goes around the world, taking over five months to complete the spin. When it ends its journey, the world would have started on a new one, that of celebrating the triumph of sun power, the new ways to harness the <keyword id="6357019" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="solar-energy">solar energy</keyword> and of course, a better way to maintain bilateral relations with countries that provide oil to the world.<br />
<br />
When Solar Impulse 2 wins, the new road opens into the inner alleys of human conscience.<br />
<br />
The social media networking sites are almost on fire, anticipating the winning journey of Solar Impulse 2, hailing the power of mind and the ever-so-giving nature that has gifted the human race with insights into new ways of living.<br />
<br />
Twitter has been adding approximately 40 – 50 new tweets almost every minute with people all over the world celebrating its fruitful journey. As the plane landed, there were reports that the twitter had an impossible task at hand, of accommodating the tweets of celebration. In any case, it is heartening to know the world was out there, celebrating the safe landing of a plane of future.<br />
<br />
Prior to taking off, Andre and Piccard are presumably on high spirits. And they did send out the customary tweets, helping the world find the right spirit to hold up its solar flying machine in the high skies. Andre was elated to say Solar Impulse isn’t just about a plane flying on sun’s energy. ‘With the @solarimpulse team, we aim to explore new solutions and ideas’. That goes WAY beyond just flying.<br />
<br />
Piccard was candid about the entire flight. It’s a milestone yes. But then, Solar Impulse is also a stepping stone to better solutions that can emerge out of successful implementation of solar energy. Imagine if Sun could be a solution to all our energy needs? Our seas will be clear, our relationships better and countries can focus on trade instead of looking for oil or fracking for shale gas in each others’ backyard.<br />
<br />
The spirit in Piccard’s message soared high. ‘We need pioneering spirit to do things that have never been done before. Clean technologies, like the ones on @solarimpulse, can divide by two the energy consumption in our world!’ Now, that’s beyond just technology that would do the speaking for the future.<br />
<br /> Gujarat, the seat of royalty is also home to Prime Minister <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword> who has been the champion of the solar cause. During his reign as CM, he set up many projects that were about harnessing the solar energy to provide civic amenities to the population of the state at large.<br />
<br />
Now, with Solar Impulse having landed in the city, Ahmadabad has truly become a destination for forward looking technology that doesn’t include exploitation of earth, in any manner that would cut her life short by time or resources.<br />
 <br />
<i>Image Credit: </i><em>http://press.solarimpulse.com/</em>

Solar impulse for a cleaner sky and human conscience

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div>According to Bloomberg, it's as big as a Boeing 747 but weighs <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-24/solar-plane-to-fly-around-world-in-campaign-against-energy-waste.html">only as much as a "family car."</a></p><p>It's the <a href="http://www.solarimpulse.com/en/">Solar Impulse</a>, an aircraft that powered by light - but that can still soar in darkness because it uses batteries to store energy gathered during daytime flight.</p><p>It isn't exactly supersonic, however. But it's currently flying <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">around the world. And it's going to take rather less than 80 days.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Last year, Bloomberg reported<span> that the duo of pilots taking turns at the controls would need to "</span>withstand flying non-stop for five days and nights to prepare for ocean crossings stuffed in a tiny cabin traveling as high as 27,000 feet at about 45 miles per hour."</span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Screenshoot via YouTube/Solar Impulse" title_caption="The plane has flown from San Francisco to New York." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/542332a0ecad04d20e746559-960/screen shot 2014-09-24 at 4.53.08 pm.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></div><p></p></div></div> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Check out this recent video, from <span>the organization behind the plane:</span></span></p><p></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-city-1905-vintage-footage-movie-bryant-park-subway-video-2015-3">Here's what New York City looked like in 1905</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="91cGlzczosNq_kQh4r34Jqg_nwE_Oy17" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

This beautiful solar-powered plane is huge - and it's flying around the world

<p class="p1"><div class="image-container float_right click-to-enlarge"><div class="image"><a title_source="Solar Impulse" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/51d90657ecad042478000048-960/solar-impulse.jpg"><span class="click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source">Solar Impulse</p></div></div>A solar-powered plane, <a href="%20http://www.businessinsider.com/solar-impusle-plane-that-can-fly-day-and-night-2013-3">Solar Impulse</a>, ended its historic trip across America with a dramatic landing at John F. Kennedy International <keyword id="6355752" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="airport">Airport</keyword> (JFK) late Saturday. </p>
<p>The plane landed three hours earlier than planned, at 11:09 p.m. EDT, because of a <a href="http://www.solarimpulse.com/en/multimedia/blog/" target="_blank">rip in the fabric on the lower side of the left wing</a>, according to the company's website. </p>
<p>The plane was not in danger, but it made the last leg of a near 230-mile journey "especially difficult," <a href="http://www.solarimpulse.com/en/multimedia/blog/" target="_blank">Swiss pilot André Borschberg said</a>.  </p>
<p>Borschberg is the co-founder and CEO of Solar Impulse. He and one other pilot, Bertrand Piccard, have been alternately flying the aircraft since leaving San Francisco on their cross-country journey on May 3 with stops in Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Washington D.C.</p>
<p>Before landing at JFK, the aircraft was supposed to fly over several New York City landmarks. Those plans hit a snag when the tear was discovered, forcing "the team to envisage all the possible scenarios, including bailing out over the Atlantic," Borschberg said. </p>
<p>The plane landed safely after a flying time of 18 hours and 23 minutes. </p>

Solar-Powered Plane Ends Coast-To-Coast Trip With A Suspenseful Landing

<p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p>
<p class="p1">Richard Branson owns an airline, of course, a<span>nd within a matter of months he plans to head into space. </span>But beyond that, the CEO of the Virgin Group has set world records in four modes of transport - boating, ballooning, amphibious vehicle, and kite surfing. Yet in his mind not all his adventures are created equal.</p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"></span><span class="s1"></span><span class="s1">"My <a href="http://online.wsj.com/articles/richard-bransons-tech-essentials-1411156350">favorite mode of transport is hot-air ballooning</a></span><span>," Branson told The Wall Street Journal recently. "It's so graceful to be blown by the wind, to go where the wind takes you."</span></p>

<p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">And in </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/richard-branson-on-space-and-leadership-2014-9">an interview with Henry Blodget</a>,<span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> Branson suggested that people who devote an hour a day to keeping fit may get in an extra two to three hours of very productive work as a result. How can he afford to do this? "By knowing that if my balloon goes down tomorrow," he replied, "I have a fantastic team of people who will keep Virgin on the road."</span><span></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Branson's love affair with hot-air balloons began in the mid-1980s. With business at Virgin Records and Virgin Atlantic booming, Branson began pursuing challenges of a physical and engineering nature. After a successful boating stunt that saw him beat the world record for crossing the Atlantic Ocean, Branson set his sights on another world record: crossing the Atlantic by hot-air balloon.</span></p>
<p class="p1">Because he knew little about ballooning, Branson trained for three years by practicing skydiving, water survival, and balloon flight. In July 1987, Branson and his copilot, Per Lindstrand, an experienced balloonist, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3693588.stm"><span class="s2">set out from Sugarloaf, Maine, with the goal of reaching western Scotland</span></a>.</p>
<p class="p1"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>The journey was far from safe. Never mind that Branson had barely flown a hot-air balloon before - at 2.3 million cubic feet (about the size of a 21-story building), the Virgin Atlantic Flyer was the largest balloon ever made. The journey required the balloon to fly in the jet stream, a feat never attempted before. The jet stream carries winds of over 200 mph, and no balloon had ever flown anywhere over 70 mph.</p>
<p class="p1">The first part went off mostly without a hitch. They made the 2,900-mile journey in one and half days, but as the duo attempted to land, they hit difficulties. The mechanism that was supposed to eject the capsule from the balloon failed in Ireland and they were forced to continue flying over the Irish Sea. The balloon repeatedly dipped into the sea, making a clean landing look more and more unlikely. When the balloon was 60 feet above the water, Lindstrand advised that they jump. Lindstrand went first, but as soon as he left the capsule, the balloon rocketed to 12,000 feet. Branson didn't expect that he would come out alive.</p>

<p class="p1">He debated skydiving out of the capsule, but a near-death experience skydiving during training dissuaded him.</p>
<p class="p1">"I climbed back into the capsule and <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_branson_s_life_at_30_000_feet/transcript?language=en#t-733000"><span class="s1">just desperately tried to make sure that I was making the right decision</span></a>," Branson said in an interview with TED.</p>
<p class="p1">Channeling crisis moments he'd experienced in his businesses, Branson calmed himself and used the balloon as a parachute, guiding it back toward the water and jumping once he was 50 feet above the water. He and Lindstrand were plucked out of the water by the Royal Navy, though Lindstrand reportedly had to swim for two hours in the cold water.</p>
<p class="p1">At the end of the journey, Branson swore off ballooning, but the bug had bit him. Within a few years, Branson was attempting something even more daring.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p class="p1">In 1991, Branson made the second of his record-breaking flights, becoming the first to cross the Pacific Ocean in a hot-air balloon. The trip, this time with Lindstrand and American millionaire Steve Fossett, was an unmitigated disaster that Branson was lucky to escape from. </p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s1">In an interview with Inc., Branson <a href="http://www.inc.com/leigh-buchanan-and-andrew-maclean/richard-branson-balloon-flight.html"><span class="s2">laid out the trip in chilling detail</span></a>:</span></p>
<p class="p1" style="padding-left: 30px;">Everything went wrong. We lost two-thirds of our fuel. We were only 1,000 miles into the trip, with 7,000 more miles to go. We had to average 180 miles per hour in a balloon [to make it across] .... I was facing almost certain death …. We could have just slumped on the floor and accepted our fate or try to fly the balloon into the core of the jet stream and find the strongest winds you can find, stay awake for three days, and do everything you can to avoid what, on paper, looked like a sad ending.</p>
<p class="p1">Miraculously, the team found their way into the jet stream and were shot across to the Canadian Arctic, missing their destination (Los Angeles) by 4,000 miles. The team broke existing records for flight duration and distance, reaching speeds of 245 mph. It was the luckiest of outcomes.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p class="p1">Despite the mess of the Pacific flight, Branson refused to back down. Over the next seven years, he made four attempts at achieving the most difficult (and to that point never done) ballooning feat ever: circumnavigating the world. He failed every time, more than once failing in spectacular style.</p>
<p class="p1">One attempt saw Branson, Lindstrand, and Fossett <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2014/06/19/a-kasbah-that-rocks-inside-richard-bransonsmoroccan-retreat/"><span class="s1">crash-landing in the Sahara and being taken hostage by an Algerian warlord</span></a>. Branson has described it as "the most sort-of-luxurious kidnapping ever." Another occasion found the balloonists <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/05/14/bransons-luck"><span class="s1">accidentally crossing the Himalayas over Mount Everest and K2</span></a>. As they began to come out the other side of the mountains, they encountered the Chinese Air Force, which threatened to shoot them down. It took a few frantic calls from Branson's secretary to British diplomats to sort that debacle out. Branson's most successful attempt had his team beating existing distance records, <a href="http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1998-12-26/news/9812250144_1_hot-air-balloon-jet-stream-balloonists"><span class="s1">but landing in Hawaii after they fell out of the jet stream</span></a>.</p>
<p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">His numerous adventures, which have raised his profile and the brand recognition of Virgin, have been criticized by many as mere publicity stunts.</span></p>

<p class="p1">While he recognizes that his ballooning and boating helped make Virgin a global brand, he has rejected the idea that he did anything for any reason other than pure joy and curiosity at the challenge.</p>
<p class="p1">"The P.R. experts actually have said that as an airline owner the last thing I should be doing is <span class="s1"><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_branson_s_life_at_30_000_feet">heading off in balloons and boats and crashing into the sea</a> </span>…. And they have a point," Branson told Chris Andersen during an interview with TED in 2007. "When I went over on the Virgin Atlantic Flyer, our airline took a full-page ad which said something like 'Come on, Richard, there are better ways of crossing the Atlantic.'"</p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s2">In 1999, Branson gave up his pursuit of a global hot-air balloon flight after <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1998/11/98/great_balloon_challenge/299788.stm"><span class="s1">he was beaten to the punch by British balloonist Brian Jones and Swiss Bertrand Piccard</span></a>. </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p>
<p class="p2"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p class="p1"><span>Though Branson has continued his daredevil antics in different ways, these days he devotes more of his immense energy toward pursuing philanthropic and humanitarian efforts,<span> including reform of drug laws, resolution of global conflicts, and environmentalism.</span></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span>"</span><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/05/14/bransons-luck"><span class="s1">The ballooning and boating helped put Virgin on the map on a global basis</span></a><span>,'' Branson told The New Yorker's Michael Specter in 2007. "I certainly regret none of it. But there are quite a lot of important things going on right now on this planet and I don't really want to kill myself in a stupid way. It didn't seem to matter as much when I was young. I had everything to lose and I wasn't reticent to lose it. But if the question is how would I wish to be remembered, I guess I would have to say not as somebody who spent his life in a balloon."</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span>But as his recent comment indicates, the allure still stays with him: <span>"It's so graceful to be blown by the wind, to go where the wind takes you."</span></span></p>
<p class="p1"><strong>Who Wouldn't Try It If They Could? Watch My Afternoon Spent Flying High Above New York:</strong></p>
<p class="p1"><span><span> </span></span></p>
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