Having made an unprecedented flight around the Earth in a balloon, the Russian traveler, researcher, writer, artist, and ROC archpriest Feodor Konyukhov returned with new records.
In 11 days he overcame a distance of 35 thousand kilometers, crossed three continents and three oceans, and flew close to Antarctica.
Konyukhov set an absolute world record for balloon flying around the Earth in record time - 11 days 5:00 hours and 11 minutes or 269 hours and 11 minutes. The previous record belonged to an American pilot, Steve Fossett – 320 hours 33 minutes.
The second record is the distance between the start and end points of the route – 34,977.36 km. The previous record also belongs to Fossett – 33,195.1 km.
The third record of Konyukhov was to become the first person in the world to successfully fly around the world in a balloon on his first attempt (Fossett took 6 attempts).
In addition, the Russian traveler was the first balloonist to fly in a balloon back to the same airport from which the flight started.
Talking about records, the vice president of the Morton group of companies, who sponsored the flight, Oleg Kolchenko, emphasized the international nature of the project: "In order to organize all this, design the balloon, bring it, start it, it took the cooperation of specialists from more than 12 countries. These countries are Belgium, the United States, Britain, Russia and Australia. We had a common goal, there was a team, there was a pilot, the best pilot to date, that is why we coped with this task brilliantly. Therefore I think it is unlikely that anyone else will be able to repeat this result in the near future."
Konyukhov started his trip from Northam on July 12th, crossed Australia, the Pacific Ocean, South America, the Atlantic Ocean, passed the Cape of Good Hope, crossed the Indian Ocean and finished in Australia. ‘’It was dangerous, scary and difficult to fly around the world, but it was nice. In previous years I enjoyed the management of such a large mischievous object,’’ Konyukhov confessed.
One of the most difficult stages of the journey turned out to be flying over the Indian Ocean, where Konyukhov got into a strong air stream, which carried the balloon to the southeast of Antarctica. In order to change course, the 64-year traveler had to get to a height of 10.5 kilometers.
A biography of Konyukhov would be enough for a whole encyclopedia.
He was born in Ukraine, into a family of a descendant of Arkhangelsk shore-dwelling fishermen and a native of Bessarabia.
He graduated from the Odessa Marine College and became a boat master. Then he studied at Bobruisk Art College and the Leningrad Arctic College, became a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR and the Union of Writers of Russia.
From 1998 to the present day he has headed the laboratory of distance learning in extreme conditions at the Modern Humanitarian Academy.
In 2010 he was ordained as a priest.
Konyukhov has completed four voyages around the world, crossed the Atlantic on sailing yachts 15 times, and once in a ‘URALAZ’ rowing boat. He is the first person in the world to have reached five poles of the planet: the geographical North (three times), the geographical South, the Pole of relative inaccessibility in the Arctic Ocean, Mount Everest (the height pole),the and Cape Horn (the yachtsmen’s pole). He is the first Russian to have completed the program ‘Grand Slam’ (North Pole, South Pole, Mount Everest), and the first Russian to have completed the program ‘Seven Summits of the World’ and to climb the highest peaks of each continent.
