Letter of support from Sir Richard Branson

“I have received letter of support from Sir Richard Branson. This is a great news. He always inspired me by his projects in the air, in the ocean, on land. Even he was not always the first to achieve the goal but he was pushing the limits, creating completions, investing into technology, promoting sports. Richard holds several balloon world records.

In July 1987 first to cross the Atlantic Ocean from USA to UK in hot air balloon. Distance covered 4,947 km (3,074 miles) in 33 hours.

January 1991 first hot-air balloon flight across the Pacific. Distance covered = 7,671.9-km (4,767.1-mi) from Japan to Canada in the Virgin Otsuka Pacific Flyer in 46 hr 15 min.

Between 1995 and 1998, Richard Branson attempted to circumnavigate the globe by balloon. In late 1998 he made a record-breaking flight from Morocco to Hawaii but were unable to complete a global flight before Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones in Breitling Orbiter 3 in March 1999″.

Fedor Konyukhov