ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The two pilots who completed a record-breaking flight across the Pacific Ocean in a helium-filled balloon have returned to New Mexico.
A large crowd greeted Troy Bradley of Albuquerque and Leonid Tiukhtyaev of Russia at the airport after they finished the historic journey a day earlier. The news conference was adorned with colorful balloon decorations to mark the occasion, and the event included a champagne toast.
Bradley had been planning the trans-Pacific flight for 15 years, and his wife said he was driven by a goal of doing something better than anyone else in the world.