BDN reporters help make The County a better place by holding officials accountable and shining a light. Your donation can help raise $60,000 this spring to support our reporting. Make a donation now.
The three-member international balloon team that lifted off from Presque Isle early Thursday morning is now flying over the Atlantic Ocean.
The Atlantic Explorer left Canadian airspace around 10 p.m. Thursday, flight press officer Kim Vesely reported Friday.
If successful, the trip would be the first trans-Atlantic crossing made in a hydrogen-powered open-basket balloon. It would also score another first for one of the three pilots, Alicia Hempleman-Adams, who would become the first woman to cross the ocean in a gas balloon.
“There’s no turning back now,” Vesely said. “The Atlantic Explorer trans-Atlantic balloon has passed over the coast of Nova Scotia and is out over the open ocean.”
Hempleman-Adams of the United Kingdom is joined by Peter Cuneo of New Mexico and Bert Padelt of Pennsylvania. Each are either world record holders or champion balloonists.
After several delays because of strong winds, the team lifted off at 2 a.m. Thursday. The trip across the Atlantic is projected to take four to six days, covering some 3,100 miles to mainland Europe.
The team has so far traveled approximately 900 miles, Vesely said. The balloon has been following the southern coast of Newfoundland and is now moving toward an area of faster winds.
“Their flight aboard the Atlantic Explorer to Europe could take as much as six days, during which the pilots are living in the open air in an aluminum frame basket smaller than most closets,” Vesely said.
Unlike hot-air balloons, where lift is controlled with bursts of helium into the open envelope, hydrogen balloons are filled with gas and then sealed. Flight is controlled by the heat of the sun and removal of ballast.
To fly, the pilots navigate varying wind speeds and calculate how much ballast – sandbags – to drop to achieve lift. Crossing the Atlantic is so challenging that only 19 trips have been successful in the 140-year history of balloon flight, Vesely said.
A flight control team, technical experts and meteorologists are aiding the pilots from both sides of the Atlantic. Jason Fischer of Latvia and John Piper of New York headed the inflation team, she said. Ground crew members hail primarily from Pennsylvania and New Mexico, and the flight control team is based largely in Britain.
For Padelt, who built the Explorer, the journey is a lifelong dream.
Padelt first planned a flight in 2023 with another pilot team that included Swiss scientist and explorer Frederik Paulsen and Hempleman-Adams’ father, David Hempleman-Adams. Weather grounded that flight.
Poor conditions cut short another try in 2024, and the pilots landed on Prince Edward Island last year because of a suspected gas leak in the balloon.
All four attempts started in Presque Isle, which was chosen for its northern location and for its ballooning history. The famed Double Eagle II launched from there in 1978 to become the the first successful trans-Atlantic hot-air balloon flight.
Padelt eagerly followed the Double Eagle II, and never lost the desire to be part of a similar journey, he said in 2023.
The ongoing flight is a “highly personal challenge for a seasoned team,” according to Vesely.
“The team thanks the people of Presque Isle and all those who helped with the preparation of the balloon for flight,” she said.
For information on the flight and to track its progress, visit atlantic-explorer.com or find Atlantic Explorer 2026 Flight Control on Facebook.