details of his voyage to the edge of space.
‘‘Every time it seemed that my mission would
fail, God and Baba came to my rescue,’’ he said.
‘‘I was in constant communication with them all
the way.
’’ The unexpectedly strong winds lifted off his
balloon from its moorings prematurely, even before he was
fully ready. Whereas the balloon should have taken off vertically,
the gust dragged him westwards towards the sea at a dangerously
low altitude.
At this juncture a rescue helicopter set off in pursuit and
chief co-coordinator Andy Elson radioed to Vijaypat that he
was ready to rescue him if he lands in the sea.
‘‘How farcical it would have been had I abandoned
the mission just a few minutes after lift-off. I would have
been the laughing stock of the world.
With the burners not working efficiently, I turned to God
and Saibaba and asked them to save my honour.
‘‘You won’t believe me, but at that very
moment my prayers were answered, the burners kicked up and
the balloon started to lift off, as if by Divine ordination.
‘‘However, my burners started packing up soon
after lift-off and it didn’t take long for all 18 of
them to stop functioning. For the later part of my journey
the balloon was powered by solar heat.’’
Vijaypat says the balloon’s ascent stalled at 60,000.
‘‘Hey Baba,’’ I said. ‘‘You
have brought me so close to the record, don’t let me
down now."
‘‘My prayers were answered again and the balloon
soared past Per Lindstrand’s record of 64,997 feet to
a height of 69,852 feet.’’
‘‘At this stage Andy ordered me to return. I
was sorely tempted to stay back, burn a little fuel and ascend
to 75,000, perhaps even 72,000 feet.
‘‘But I recalled Andy’s voice admonishing
me that anything above 45,000 is forbidden territory. I decided
discretion was the better part of valour and started descending.
’’Apart from the problem with burners, there
were snafus with pressurisation of the capsule, frosting of
the cockpit window and failure of the camera and radio systems.
A major slip-up concerned the lack of toilet facilities.
Referring to problems during his descent, Vijaypat said he
ignored Andy Elson’s advice to slow down his descent
speed, which would have necessitated his having to stay aloft
for another five to six hours.
‘‘I used my commander’s prerogative and
decided to return even though the ground wind was dangerously
fast. I was fortunate to land without any problem. Had the
capsule tilted forward during touchdown, serious injury could
have resulted.
‘‘Somebody up there was definitely watching over
me,’’ he says. He also considers his landing at
Sinnar, between Nasik and Shirdi significant.
Certification of the record by the Federation Aviation Internationale,
the world body, is expected shortly.
Meanwhile, Jatin Vakani, Singhania’s long-time flying
companion claims that although the altimetre in the capsule
shows a reading of 69,852 feet, the 164-ft height of the balloon
increases it past the targeted figure of 70,000 to 70,016.
Vijaypat mischievously refused to be drawn into divulging
future plans. However, his Cloud Nine demeanour suggested
that Mission Impossible was, by no stretch of the imagination,
his last adventure
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