Despite severe weather forcing them to change course, American Troy Bradley and Russian Leonid Tiukhtyaev have set a new world distance record for a flight in a helium balloon. The pair crossed the Pacific after leaving Japan on Sunday. They were aiming to land in the U.S. or Canada but are now due to land in Mexico on Saturday. The existing record was 5,209 miles, which was set in 1981, and on Thursday they surpassed it with 5,261 miles.
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