Historic flight

Briefs

A Russian adventurer and Orthodox priest was on course to shatter the record for an aroundthe-world balloon flight last night, arriving back in Western Australia after battling numbing subzero temperatures, the loss of his heater and fierce thunderstorms. Fedor Konyukhov was within easy reach of breaking the record of 13 days, set by American adventurer Steve Fossett in 2002. Konyukhov, 64, lifted off from Northam on July 12 in his attempt to become the second man to fly solo around the world non-stop in a hot air balloon. He was expected to land between Northam and Kalgoorlie after travelling 33,000km in 101⁄2 days.