Hot Air Balloon Pilots Honored

Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones accomplished an elusive goal on March 21st of this year: to be the first to pilot a balloon non-stop around the world.

The two men flew over 25,000 miles and — after 19 days, 21 hours and 47 minutes of flight — touched down in the Egyptian desert. Breitling — the Swiss-based watch manufacturer — sponsored the flight.

The bright orange gondola they lived in during their journey became part of the permanent Milestones of Flight exhibit at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Thursday.

It joins the Wright Brothers' plane, Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, and the Apollo 11 Command module among others.

"I've still got goose bumps," Jones said. "It's amazing."

The two men were also honored with three aviation world records: shortest time around the world, farthest distance and longest duration.

"It was magical to go around the world the first time," Piccard told CBS This Morning Co-Anchor Thalia Assuras. "Now people can see this gondola that went around the world with no engine — just pushed by the wind. I think that's the poetry of it."

Piccard said he feels a very strong sense of achievement.

"It's a great emotion to realize that the gondola is in the same place with all the aircraft of all the heroes of our childhood," Piccard said.

During the trip, the balloonists lived in a pill-shaped pressurized compartment the size of a minivan, flying as high as 36,000 feet and moving along at up to 105 mph. The gondola contains a galley, two bunks, a toilet and the instruments and controls to operate the balloon.

"Imagine being locked up with a good friend for three weeks in a hotel lift. That probably sums it up," Jones said.

Bertrand said pieces of the balloon — which is about three times the height of the museum itself — will be added to the exhibit.

Besides earning a place of distinction in the museum, Piccard and Jones have already received another reward for their record-breaking journey: Anheuser-Busch Cos., the beer brewer, paid them $1 million for becoming the first to circumnavigate the globe in a hot-air balloon.

Jones said their next project is a charitable foundation they created with Breitling, "to help forgotten sufferings around the world."