Born 1945

Steve Fossett is drawn to adventure. The fifty-two-year-old Chicago-based investor and self-made millionaire has swum the English Channel and competed in Alaska’s 1,165-mile Iditarod dogsled race. He is the only man to have crossed the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by both balloon and sailboat. And he has twice attempted to circle the world in a balloon. Like many other aeronauts (balloonists), he is obsessed with this last great feat of aviation, racing to become the world’s first. All balloonists agree that it is a goal unlikely to be reached without using the fierce currents of the jet stream high in the atmosphere, where the air is thin and the temperatures are freezing.

Breaks ballooning and sailing records

Fossett began breaking records in 1995. He ballooned across the Pacific Ocean in February of that year, the first person to do so alone. Taking...