American Troy Bradley and Russian Leonid Tiukhtyaev broke two long-standing ballooning records in January. The pair completed a trip across the Pacific Ocean on January 31, landing their helium-filled balloon 4 miles (6km) offshore in Baja California, Mexico. They had set off from Japan on January 25, travelling 6,646 miles (10,696km) which broke the distance record of 5,209 miles (8,383km) set by the Double Eagle V team during the first transpacific flight in 1981. The journey took 160hr 38mins which broke the 137-hour duration record set in 1978 by the Double Eagle crew of Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman in the first balloon flight across the Atlantic.
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