Overview
- The Atlantic Explorer landed safely in Luxembourg on Sunday, June 7, with pilots Bert Padelt, Alicia Hempleman‑Adams and Peter Cuneo reported tired but in good spirits.
- The team says the flight is the first crewed trans‑Atlantic crossing in an open‑basket balloon using hydrogen as the sole lifting gas and makes Alicia Hempleman‑Adams the first British woman and second woman ever to cross the Atlantic by gas balloon.
- The balloon launched from Presque Isle, Maine, on June 4 and remained aloft for about 70 hours while covering roughly 2,850 miles; the crew flew near 14,000 feet on average, used supplemental oxygen, and reached reported speeds up to about 90–100 km/h.
- Pilots faced high operational risks including full exposure in an open basket, icing after flying through rain, and the flammability and precise gas management demands of hydrogen, all managed with continuous altitude changes and a specialist Flight Control team.
- The crossing caps a multi‑year, iterative program that began with earlier aborted attempts and a 2025 forced landing; official flight logs and technical debriefs are still being consolidated as the ballooning community records the achievement and its safety implications.