6 P.M., SUNDAY: T-MINUS 24 HOURS

摘要

It's easy to cop an attitude about Steve Fossett. The 60-year-old multimillionaire investor-turned-adventurer has circumnavigated the world solo in a balloon, he has set 24 extreme-sailing records, he's swum the English Channel, competed in the Iditarod and the 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race, run 100 miles through a desert in Colorado—heck, he's even set the world speed record in a blimp (69.4 mph)—and now he intends to pilot a flying fuel tank around the world nonstop . . . but frankly, he just doesn't have the look. He has never possessed, Atlantic GlobalFlyer out for its long-awaited extended spin, when a reporter asks him about motivation. Fossett lets loose some boilerplate about the technical challenges, the personal-endurance challenges, and the pure accomplishment that comes with being the fastest, first, only or best—and then he adds, quite simply, that "it's good for my self-esteem."