The most difficult baloons riddles

James Gordon Bennett, Jr. (1841-1918) was publisher of the New York Herald. He sponsored many sport and exploration events, including the first tennis match in the United States and Henry Morton Stanley's trip to Africa to find David Livingstone. He established three Gordon Bennett Cups: for international yachting, for automobile races and for ballooning. The last one continues to this day.

Gwiazda Polski (The Star of Poland) was a balloon, which, according to the Polish planners, was going to reach the stratosphere, thus beating the 1930s high-altitude world record, established on November 11, 1935 in the Explorer II balloon. Stevens and Anderson ascended to the altitude of 22,066 m, the Poles wanted to reach the altitude of 30 kilometers. The balloon was made by the Aviotex factory in Legionowo and was the world's largest.

Fossett chose a southern hemisphere route to take advantage of prevailing easterly winds and the lack of mountain ranges. His path after leaving Australia was straight across the South Pacific, past Easter Islands, and over the southern tip of South America.