James Stephen Fossett was born April 22, 1944, in Jackson, Tennessee. Childhood and youth passed in Garden Grove, California. From a young age Steve Fossett was a member of the Scout Movement. In 1966, Fossett graduated from Stanford University with a degree in economics. In 1968 he was awarded the title of Master of Economics at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. In the same year, Steve Fossett married Peggy Wieland.
Up to 40 years old Fossett was known only in business circles. He made a very successful career at the exchange, and even became the founder of the largest U.S. trading corporation Lakota Trading Inc., Co-owner of the company Scaled Composites.
In 1985, apparently bored of achievements in business, Steve Fossett decided to swim the English Channel. It was just a challenge to myself – and the fourth time he did it. Incidentally, it is interesting that for the first extreme achievement, Steve has committed, not invested in it, no dollar. In the future it will also be very practical given his passion for extreme entertainment.
Then followed 8 years, during which Fossett had not attracted public attention. It is known that he was engaged in various unusual sports such as marathon races on skis in the mountains of Colorado, where he lived with his wife. There he participated in a mountain marathon. And it became clear that Fossett did not attract as much speed as marathon. His hobby – endurance and perseverance.
Apparently, training in the cold and spodvigli it to the next daring – in 1992, Fossett decided to take part in dog-sled race. He predstyalo to get more than a thousand miles of snow-covered Alaska. Steve Fossett coped with it, but rather ignominiously. His team came to the finish line forty-seventh.
In 1993, he tried to do racing – and again for long distances. Fossett took part in the Le Mans Sports Car Race, the French marathon rally racing cars. But here it was waiting for a failure – the team, which played Steve, came thirty-sixth.
In the same 1993 Steve Fossett finally found a worthy vocation, in which he was to establish its first world record. Tired of racing on land, he turned to water, which was once the first time, allowed him to feel like a winner. Fossett began to swim at high speed yacht, and it was the real sport of millionaires.
In 1993, he set his first world record speed sailing on a yacht – for 44 hours Fossett skirted Ireland. Since then, Steve began to seriously engage in this sport. He designed high-speed catamaran PlayStation (later the ship will be more “noble” name Cheyenne) and committed 24 more record-breaking swim. The most famous of them is “Around the World” in 2004, when Steve Fossett and his crew sailed around the globe in 6 days faster than the previous record holders.
However, by this time “swimming” achievements have been made for extremals something trivial. In the end, what it takes to achieve that within a year (as happened to the Fossett Around the World record) was improved by another in the same athlete, and happily forgotten in the world. After sailing in 2004 Fossett announced that he was no longer deals with yachts. By the time the yacht became his child’s toy, because it was something to be proud seriously.
Since 1995, Steve Fossett cherished dreams. By the time he did not once experienced the euphoria of a man who “broke” someone’s record, and wanted more. Fossett wanted to be a record breaker, who will do something for the first time, and thereby always remain in the history of mankind. He began to study the history of human achievement – and found what I was looking for.
It seemed incredible, but the history of aeronautics is not a single person to circumnavigate the world flight in a balloon. It was what you need – a test, which once required and endurance, Steve, and his money. He knew that he would win, because none of the trained athlete will not find the necessary sum to construct a balloon which will fly long enough. Thus there is hardly a millionaire like him, who will overcome any difficulties marathon flight – without sleep, normal food, in cold and rarefied air.
As the cold and rarefied air, Fossett experience here was not to occupy. He climbed the highest mountains (including Everest twice), almost all continents (except Antarctica) – and, incidentally, has left this hobby, as well as yachts and enthusiasm – then all the records were set before him. However, having decided to fly around the world, Steve Fossett was again seriously pursue ski marathon in the mountains of Colorado. He even constructed a special capsule, inside which were simulated atmospheric conditions at a height of 3 kilometers, and slept in it for several nights in a row. As a result, it allowed him to be at an altitude of 7 km in only one oxygen mask.
In order to construct a device that can fly around the world, Fossett had hired a special team of experts, which included men, setting a record distance ballooning. He spent his child 300 thousand dollars (by the way, an order of magnitude smaller than the British and the Swiss team, which at the same time planning to set this record and put the balls in their millions of dollars). Shar Fossett was relatively simple in comparison with competitors’ balls. British and Swiss have devoted much time to design a special capsule, in which the aeronaut would not feel discomfort at high altitude, while the American Fossett hoped to be able to withstand the flight and without a capsule.
And then came the historic moment – in 1996, Steve Fossett made the first attempt non-stop round the world flight in a balloon. The attempt ended in failure – having started in South Dakota, the ball could fly only to Canada. However, his Swiss and British competitors have done and that – their balloons went down in the first days of flight.
And Steve Fossett in a truly marathon perseverance made a second flight – this time his ball flew from Missouri to India, the third flight – again, from Missouri to Russia, the fourth flight – which had nearly ended in his death, when the ball fell in a storm and became rapidly lose altitude over Australia … But even a mortal threat not stop Fossett. He made an unsuccessful attempt to fifth and the sixth time he got his way. In 2002, having started from Australia, Fossett after 14 days, 19 hours and 50 minutes back to the starting point.
He became the first in the world and won a place in the history of global aviation “- the only language that for many years the journalists managed to pull out by Steve in response to the question:” Why are you doing? “. All this time, he claimed that was indifferent to fame and attention from the media. “I do not need the hype around my name, to find the money for extreme achievement. They and so I have – quite reasonably he notes. – Flying in a balloon around the world – it’s just what I want to do. Long and very much want.
Flying a balloon opened Fossett aviation world. Conditions in the new environment, he again began to establish small record speed and range. Fossett flew gliders, airships and airplanes across oceans and continents. When he and this was not enough, he tried to fly a glider into the stratosphere, but it summed up the wind, the glider could not rise above 20 kilometers.
In autumn 2004, Fossett was right airship pilots. 27 October Fossett set a world speed record for airships. He flew a distance of 1000 meters in both directions with an average speed of 111,8 km / h top speed – 115 km / hour.
From 1 to 3 March 2005 Steve Fossett alone circled the globe in a special plane, Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, designed Bert Rutana. This was the first in the world circled the globe alone without stopping. The flight lasted 67 hours 2 minutes and 38 seconds, distance – 36 898.04 km. Start and landing – in the town of Salina, Kansas. In February 2006, Steve Fossett in Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer set an absolute record for distance flight without stopping – 41 467.53 miles in 76 hours and 45 minutes. It was a nonstop flight around the globe, in which Fossett twice crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Fossett was launched on Feb. 8 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 11 and landed in England.
Until July 2006, Fossett belonged to the record for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean on a sailing vessel – 4 days 17 hours 28.06 minutes. Until February 2005 Fossett belonged to the record for the fastest circumnavigation on a sailing ship – 58 days 9 o’clock 32,45 minutes. Fossett was a member of the Royal Geographical Society, from 2005 to 2006 – a member of the Committee of the world scouting movement (World Scout Committee).
September 3, 2007 Steve Fossett took off in the single-engine plane from a private airfield in Nevada. After some time the connection with him gone. Fuel in his aircraft was supposed to last for 4-5 hours flight. Fossett was carrying just one bottle of water and had no parachute. The search for missing adventurer lasted several days. Steve does not have controllers to plan your flight is known only that he wanted to fly south in search of a place suitable for the race on speed. Were carried out dozens of missions, planes and helicopters to search for the missing. Area search covered an area equal to 44 000 km ². Until Sept. 19 search of the missing have been unsuccessful. September 19 the official search was suspended, but volunteers continued to search further, although it was believed that there was no chance of finding Fossett alive – for more than two weeks in the desert without food and water at a daily temperature of 35 ° C, virtually no chance of survival . During the search for missing Fossett wreckage was found seven previously crashed aircraft, but the wreckage of Steve was not among them.
September 27, 2007 was mistakenly identified the possible location of the plane Fossett. According to the head of search and rescue operations, the aircraft was located not far from Death Valley in Nevada. That is about one hundred and sixty kilometers to the south-east of the airfield from which Fossett began his journey. October 2, 2008 near the town of Mammoth Lakes, California, tourists have found the site where Fossett. At the crash site, but the wreckage of the plane were found that belonged to Steve Fossett, including: identity of the Federal Aviation Administration in the name of Fossett, a license to fly; identity and 1005 dollars. Also, predators were found scattered human bones, which were immediately sent for DNA expertise. After 1.5 months of examination of DNA confirmed that remains found at the crash site, owned by Steve Fossett.
