September 23: Breitling Team Unviel Gondola
Brian Jones and Bertrand Piccard appeared at the National Air and Space Museum for the official Brietling Orbiter 3 gondola unveiling
Free Lecture
Brian Jones and Bertrand Piccard will deliver a free public lecture on their historic flight at 8pm in the Air and Space Museum's Langley Theater on Friday, September 24. More information on attending the lecture.
The following Press Release is from August, 1999
The Breitling Orbiter 3 balloon gondola's final landing will be at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, Independence Avenue at Sixth Street, S.W., Washington, DC, after its record-setting, nonstop, globe-girdling adventure. The Breitling Orbiter 3 was the first balloon to achieve an around-the-world, nonstop flight on March 20 of this year. The gondola, or crew compartment, will be placed in the museum's Milestones of Flight gallery and will share a prominent place with other firsts in aviation such as the Wright Flyer, the Spirit of St. Louis and the Apollo 11 command module.
The Air and Space Museum acquired the Breitling Orbiter 3 through the foresight of the museum's late director, retired Vice Adm. Donald D. Engen, U.S. Navy. Adm. Engen, 75, decided that the historic object would enhance the national collections, and he called Breitling in Switzerland asking that it be donated. Breitling agreed.
Adm. Engen once remarked that there was some parallel to the museum's acquisition of Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis. In 1927 Paul Garber -- then a junior employee, later Historian Emeritus -- asked the Secretary of the Smithsonian Charles G. Abbott to send a telegram to Lindbergh at the US Embassy in Paris shortly after the landmark flight. Lindbergh agreed to donate the aircraft to the Smithsonian Institution and flew the airplane to Washington in 1928. It hung in the Arts and Industries building until 1976 when it was moved to its new location in the National Air and Space Museum. The Museum's artifact restoration facility in Suitland, Md. is now appropriately named the Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration and Storage Facility.
"We're excited about acquiring the gondola, and I greatly admire Adm. Engen for doing what he did," said Tom Crouch, the museum's senior curator.
"The gondola is now in Lucerne at the Swiss Transport Museum," said Crouch. "Our most immediate concern is that we get it back to the United States and then to Washington safely and expeditiously. We've got a lot of work to do before we can have the gondola ready for display in mid September," said Crouch.
The Breitling Orbiter 3, approximately 18 feet long, 12 feet wide and 10 feet high, will be partially disassembled, carefully wrapped and flown to Newark, N.J., via a Federal Express MD-11 jet aircraft. It will then be transported by truck to the Air and Space Museum.
"The Breitling Orbiter 3 survived an around the world flight," said Victor Govier, project coordinator. "Let's just hope it survives American traffic and freeways!"
Constructed of Kevlar and carbon fiber, the gondola was a small but functional home for its two man crew, Bertrand Piccard, a Swiss psychiatrist and long time aviator, and Brian Jones, a former British Royal Air Force pilot, during their nearly 3-week voyage. Roughly the size of a small bus, it has a galley, a single bunk, a water heater and an ingenious pressure-operated toilet. It also carried sufficient nitrogen and oxygen for four complete cabin pressurizations. The daily routine called for each man to spend eight hours alone at the controls, eight hours with his crewmate and eight hours of bunk time.
The balloon that hoisted the Breitling Orbiter 3 to altitude was built by Cameron Balloons of Bristol, England, and stands 180 feet tall.
The success of this craft's mission was based on the lessons learned during two previous attempts to circumnavigate the globe in the Breitling Orbiter and Breitling Orbiter 2 in 1997 and 1998, respectively. That experience enabled the Breitling team to constantly refine and develop increasingly trustworthy systems and a basic strategy that called for the pilots to fly at more than 30,000 feet, where the jet steam would drive it across the Pacific at speeds of 100 miles per hour or more.
Special Events
Jones and Piccard will appear at the National Air and Space Museum for a public event and the official Brietling Orbiter 3 unveiling September 23. Piccard and Jones are also scheduled to deliver a free public lecture on their historic flight at 8pm in the Air and Space Museum's Langley Theater, September 24. Tickets for this lecture will be available through Protix, Monday, August 16 by calling 1-800-529-2440. There is no charge from the Smithsonian for these tickets but service charges from Protix will apply.