LOFTING! Breitling Orbiter 3 begins its historic journey as it sails into the sky from Chateau d'Oex, Switzerland, on March 1.

During the midmorning of March 20, Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones soared into the history books when their balloon, Breitling Orbiter 3, sped at 130 miles an hour at an altitude of 36,000 feet over an invisible finish line at 9 degrees 27 minutes west longitude in Mauritania.

After riding the winds for nearly three weeks, the two pilots--Piccard, a 41-year-old Swiss psychiatrist whose grandfather invented the pressurized capsule for high-altitude ballooning, and Jones, a veteran British balloonist--took title to being the first balloonists to circumnavigate the globe by recrossing the westernmost longitude reached in their journey.

The Great Balloon Race had been won, after years of effort and scores of failed or aborted attempts, including two previous tries by Piccard. Despite exhaustion from the arduous journey, which took them over southern Europe, North Africa, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Ocean, Central America and the Atlantic Ocean, the pilots decided to fly on to a landing in Egypt, near the great pyramids at Giza.

The winds didn't favor them; off course, they bounced to earth the next day, with nearly all their fuel gone, on the soft sands of the southwestern Sahara, near the isolated town of Mut, only to wait hours for a helicopter to arrive to pick them up. The final tally: since launch from Chateau d'Oex in the Swiss Alps on March 1, the team had remained aloft for 19 days, 21 hours and 55 minutes and covered a distance of 29,055 miles. Previous records for endurance--including one set by Piccard last year--and distance were shattered. Piccard and Jones will claim the $1 million purse offered by the brewing company Anheuser-Busch.

CLOSED LOOP. After flying south from Switzerland to northern Africa, Orbiter 3 managed to steer a remarkably even course around the world by moving up and down to find winds blowing in the appropriate direction. After crossing the "finish line" in Mauritania, the pilots sailed on for one more day to land in Egypt.

Like Piccard, all the contenders in this year's race planned their flights in the "window of opportunity" that runs from late December through February when the jet stream moves into the mid-latitudes and forms a great eastward-flowing, circumpolar river of air that can reach speeds of 200 miles per hour. All but one team was flying a type of hybrid craft known as a Rozier balloon, which combines helium with hot air for lift and variable ballast. And most were making their second or third run at the prize.

HIGH-TECH BALLOONS

Rozier balloons bear as much resemblance to the brightly colored sport balloons as a dinghy to a clipper ship. Their towering envelopes are pulled upright by a bag filled with helium; below is a cone-shaped gas bag that is filled with hot air. The hot-air bag functions as variable ballast, allowing the balloonists to control their altitude. They can even alter their course to a limited extent by moving up and down to seek air currents flowing in the most desirable direction. Shiny aluminized coatings reduce the amount of heat gained from the sun and limit heat loss at night.

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