Untitled Document

News Stories - Balloon record attempt fails

Since the early hours of the morning the Qinetiq-one team had been carrying out final checks and they'd started inflating the balloon. But as it was being rolled off its drum the balloon twisted and the helium at the top of the balloon came under immense pressure, causing a seam to split. As there was no spare balloon and not enough helium, the attempt was aborted.
Brian Jones, Mission Controller of Qinetiq-one, and the holder of seven world ballooning records himself, says they'll keep trying. The balloon will now be taken back to base and thoroughly checked. Ironically, the expensive technical equipment seems intact and the weather conditions are perfect.

The team say that a structural failure like this should be overcome, but as they've now missed their weather window for this year, they'll have to wait 'til next summer to try again.

- vocabulary:

inflating: filling something with air or gas

helium: the kind of gas they were using to fill the balloon
immense: very strong
a seam: the line where two pieces of material join
to split: to break
aborted: stopped completely, not to be continued

intact: not broken, in good condition

a structural failure: a problem with the way something is built
overcome: if you overcome a problem, then you deal with it and control it so that it is no longer a problem
weather window: a period of time when the weather is good enough to do something