On February 21, 1995, businessman, adventurer and multi-time record setter Steve Fossett landed in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada completing the first ever solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.
Watch: Steve Fossett in Canada Discusses His Record Setting Flight
He went on to achieve even greater success in 2002 becoming the first person to travel solo nonstop in a balloon around the world. This was the first nonstop solo flight around the world in any type of aircraft.
Fossett then became the first person to fly in a fixed wing aircraft nonstop around the world in 2005. Taking off from Salina, Kansas, traveling to the east he returned to Salina 67 hours, 1 minute, 10 seconds later all without getting refueled or making any landings along the way. His aircraft averaged a speed of 342.2 mph for the trip.
Fossett set more than one hundred records in five different sports, sixty of which still stood at the time of his death in 2007.
Fossett disappeared on September 3, 2007, while flying a light aircraft over the Great Basin Desert, between Nevada and California. Extensive searches proved unsuccessful, and he was declared legally dead in February of the following year.
In September 2008, a hiker found Fossett’s identification cards in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, leading shortly after to the discovery of the plane’s wreckage. Fossett’s only remains, two large bones, were found half a mile from the crash site, probably scattered by wild animals. – Wikipedia
Watch: Steve Fossett Discussing His Life of Adventure
Steve Fossett was a highly successful businessman and set records in a wide variety of activities including ballooning, sailing, cross country skiing, mountain climbing and aviation including flying gliders and airships. He even competed in and completed the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, swam across the English Channel, and raced a car in the 24 hours of Le Mans road race.
Featured image of Steve Fossett (right) being kissed by Richard Branson after landing safely in Bournemouth, Sussex, February 11, 2006 by AFP/Getty Images