In 2016 the famous traveller and priest Fedor Konyukhov is going to perform around-the-world non-stop solo flight using a hot Morton air balloon, which is being constructed in UK. He is going to start his flight from an Australian desert and finish it at an eastern coast of Australia, RIA Novosti reports.

Fedor Konyukhov, who is going to surpass Steve Fossett (USA), who was the first one to perform the around-the-world flight using a hot air balloon, demonstrates that a one must risk his life for his country’s sake, First Vice President of Russian Geographical Society, Artur Chilingarov, said.

In 2016 the famous traveller and priest Fedor Konyukhov is going to perform around-the-world non-stop solo flight using a hot Morton air balloon, which is being constructed in UK. He is going to start his flight from an Australian desert and finish it at an eastern coast of Australia. “We want our young people to look at Konyukhov and understand that they should risk their lives for the country’s sake,” Chilingarov said, adding that the President of Russia Vladimir Putin is aware of this difficult project.

Today US balloonist, yachtsman and businessman Steve Fossett is the only human, who managed to perform around-the-world solo flight using a hot air balloon. During his flight Fossett set a number of world records. Konyukhov will try to complete his flight in less time than Fossett and relies on advanced technologies. “Fedor will have to sleep for 4 hours per day. Ambient temperature will be -40 degrees, flight speed — around 200 km/h. In fact, such a flight may be completed successfully only with God’s help,” the head of this project and the traveller’s son, Oscar Konyukhov, said.

The Russian Mission Control Center will monitor the flight. Konyukhov said that as a priest, he is going to prey onboard the air balloon and “bless the ground from above”. Patriarch’s vicar of the Moscow Eparchy, Metropolitan Krutitskiy and Kolomenskiy Yuvenaliy presented an Icon of the Christ the Almighty to the traveller. “The icon will be placed in my temple. I am asking all the people to come there and prey for me during my journey,” Konyukhov said.

He also said that diving into Mariana Trench scheduled for 2018 will be rescheduled for 2021 due to difficulties related to construction of a bathyscaphe. This project has the highest difficulty category — Konyukhov is going to not only reach the bottom of the trench, but also spend two days there. He will cover more than 90 nautical miles and carry out a unique scientific study.