Bristol,UK-based balloon manufacturer Cameron Balloons has agreed to construct a Roziere 550, which will be filled with helium, to enable famed Russian adventurer Fedor Konyukhov to try and travel around the word – non-stop.
The balloon is wanted for a launch from Northam in Australia during a specific weather ‘window’ between the May to September 2016 period. Cameron Balloons will build a composite gondola which will house the balloon’s control systems, oxygen supplies, flight communication and navigational instruments, a sleeping-bunk, water supplies, food rations, life-saving emergency equipment, first-aid supplies and clothing, all of which will be flown under a Cameron Balloons Roziere-550 helium/hot-air combination balloon.
This is a similar setup of equipment used by the late American Steve Fossett, who also took-off from Northam and made the first solo circumnavigation of the world by balloon in 2002, in just under 15-days.
“Fedor and his son Oscar visited the factory in Bristol last year and they will be returning again before the end of 2015 to view the construction process and for Fedor to start his Roziere balloon ground-training with Don Cameron,” said Sales Director Nick Purvis.
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