Take-off for the Global Flyer Español | Deutsch | Français | Italiano | Português

After repeated delays, the BBC is reporting that earlier today the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer took off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:20 GMT (07:20 local time).

CREDIT: Virgin Atlantic

Take-off for the Global Flyer
Update: After a troubled take-off, Steve Fossett and the Global Flyer were followed by the Starship chase plane for the first several hours of the flight...

CREDIT: Virgin Atlantic

Monitoring the flight from Mission Control

Take-off was a bit scary to say the least. I had to use most of the runway to get off the ground. This was particularly hairy because I could not have aborted even if I had wanted to. To make matters worse, two birds hit the aircraft on take-off, luckily there does not seem to be any sign of damage. - Steve Fossett

Update: You can now track the Global Flyer in real time...

Update: An emergency landing in Bournemouth...

Tags: Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer Record Attempt Steve Fossett NASA Kennedy Space Center