MOSCOW, March 17. /TASS/. Russian adventurer Fyodor Konyukhov's team is leaving for Kirovsk in the Murmansk Region to prepare a balloon in which he can break world records for the distance and duration of the flight, the headquarters of the expedition reported on Friday.

"Russian pilots Fyodor Konyukhov and president of the Russian Ballooning Federation Ivan Menyaylo are challenging two world records at once: the range of 2,360 km, which was set by Japanese pilot Michio Kanda in an English balloon in Australia in 1997, and the duration of the flight - 55 hours, which was set by Fyodor Konyukhov and Ivan Menyaylo themselves in 2017. The thermal balloon ‘PhosAgro’ with a membrane volume of 12,000 square meters, which makes it the largest ever created in the history of Russian aeronautics, was specially constructed for the mission," the statement said.

Konyukhov and Menyaylo plan to improve their own achievement and stay in the air without landing for more than 60 hours, covering a distance of 2,500 to 3,000 kilometers. The flight is planned at a height of up to 5 kilometers at the average speed of 40-50 kilometers per hour. The height of the construction together with the basket is 36 m, the weight at the launch is 5 tons. The flight will start at the end of March in Kirovsk, its route is laid out through Cherepovets in the Vologda Region in the direction of Balakovo in the Saratov Region.

Fyodor Konyukhov has set an absolute world record in the field of ballooning: the fastest flight around the world in a hot-air balloon. For this achievement, he was awarded the title of ‘Pilot of the Year’ by the International Federation of Aeronautics (FAI) in 2016. While training for the round-the-world flight, Konyukhov and Menyaylo set two world records, first 32 hours and then 55 hours of non-stop hot air balloon flight.