TOKYO, January 26. /TASS/. An aerostat named Two Eagles with a Russian-US crew is flying safely over the Pacific toward the United States on a flight expected to be the longest ever.
Leonid Tyukhtyaev, a 58-year-old experienced pilot and a holder of eight world records, and Troy Bradley, a 50-year-old American, who logged more than 6,200 flying hours, are in the capsule.
The Two Eagles started out from the Japanese city of Saga on Sunday for a flight of about 9,600 km to the western coast of the United States.
The pilots plan to beat the distance and time records. At present, the ever longest distance is a little less than 8,400 km, and the time record 137 hours was set by a group of Americans in 1978.
The Russian and the American plan to fly for six days in their capsule that has latest navigation equipment. They stay in contact with the command centre in the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The aerostat will fly at an altitude of no lower than 4,500 meters, which requires using oxygen masks. The temperature inside the capsule is about 10 degrees Centigrade.
Specialists at the university of the state of Arizona are monitoring the flight and studying the influence of severe conditions on a human organism.