Balloonist Found Alive On Raft

Balloonist and millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett was spotted in a raft in the South Pacific on Sunday, eight hours after his attempt to fly around the world ended when his balloon went down in the shark-infested waters.

"We've been sweating bullets...so we're feeling pretty good," rescue coordinator Joe Ritchie said.

In Sydney, Australian rescue officials said Fossett was alive and had climbed into a rescue life raft dropped in the South Pacific by a French military aircraft.

Fossett's control team had lost contact with the balloonist about eight hours earlier after he sailed into a thunderstorm east of Australia.

He was on the last, most dangerous leg of his attempt to become the first person to circumnavigate the world non-stop in a balloon. The balloon was 500 miles off the Australian coast heading toward its final destination of Argentina, South America, when contact was lost, according to Alan Blount, director of mission control at Washington University in St. Louis.

U.S. Balloonist Steve Fossett before leaving for his voyage.

Seas in the area were relatively calm but the crew was concerned because the area is near a coral reef that could be full of sharks. It was shortly after midnight Australian time when the balloon ran into trouble.

At the mission control office, a dozen crew members sat around a conference table, working phones, scanning maps and checking computers in an effort to find Fossett. A map on the wall tracked his trip, showing how far he'd gone a record 15,200 miles.

It also showed how far he had to go a massive stretch of the Pacific Ocean between Australia and Argentina, the site of his Aug. 7 launch. Fossett had at least another five days of travel before he was expected to reach South America.

It was the Chicago man's fourth attempt to fly around the world. He has also run marathons, climbed mountains and raced in the Iditarod dog sled race in Alaska.

Mitchell said Fossett as an outstanding balloonist and a survivalist.

"He could cope if any human could cope," Mitchell said.

By JIM SALTER