First circumnavigation of the world by balloon

According to Official Guinness Records,

Bertrand Piccard (Switzerland) and Brian Jones (UK) completed the first ever non-stop around-the-world flight in a balloon on 20 March 1999, after piloting Breitling Orbiter 3 from Chateau-d'Oex, Switzerland, to the 'finishing line' of 9.27ºW over Mauritania, North Africa. Regarded as one of the last great challenges in aviation, their circumnavigation was also the longest ever flight in a balloon, in terms of both duration (477 hr 47 min) and distance (40,814 km or 25,360 miles).

For a complete list of 1998 records, please visit 1998 Guinness Records in Switzerland.

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