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New world glider altitude record set by Fossett and Enevoldson in Argentina

50,671 feet (15,447 m) achieved by 'Perlan' - the first ever glider flight into the earth's stratosphere

Previous record shattered by 1,662ft (507m)

30 August 2006 - El Calafate, Argentina: Wearing NASA spacesuits and flying along the crest of the Andes, pilot Steve Fossett (USA b. 1944) and co-pilot Einar Enevoldson (USA b. 1932) took their 'Perlan' high performance research glider on the world's first stratrospheric glider flight yesterday - surfing the Andean 'mountain wave' to a height of 50,671 feet (15,447 m) * - while breaking the previous record by 1,662 ft (507m) . The old record 49,009 ft (14,940 m) by Robert Harris was set in 1986 in California.

The Pilots in full NASA suits
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It was a victory for careful weather planning, precision flying, experience and teamwork. After a tow to 13,000 ft on Tuesday, the pair began their search for the lift required to achieve their goal. Capitalizing on the 'mountain wave' phenomena of high altitude updrafts and their own extensive gliding experience (Fossett has set 10 absolute world glider records for speed and distance while former NASA research pilot Enevoldson has been flying gliders since 1949), the pair had only their pressure suits, helmets, foot heaters and hand muffs to ward off the cold inside the unpressurized tandem cockpit as outside temperatures fell to as low as -57 degrees C.

Some 4-1/2 hours into the flight, the 72 foot wingspan Perlan glider (based on a German-built DG-505 high-performance sport glider but extensively modified) finally achieved the record altitudes first targeted by the project at its conception 7 years ago, with first flights in New Zealand taking place in 2002.

Steve Fossett: "This record is special. We have made attempts in New Zealand, USA and Argentina over a period of 5 years - so this is a hard won success.”

During the course of the flight (primarily within a 60 mile radius of El Calafate near the border of Argentina and Chile), the American pair found themselves flying well above commercial air traffic - a fact received with bemusement by pilots of passenger jets under the same air traffic control.

Steve Fossett recalled: “I couldn’t understand the Chilean controller describing us in Spanish to the airline pilot - but I understood the answer by the pilot: 'Wow'.”

The Landing
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The Perlan Project was initiated by Fossett, best known for his Around the World records by sailboat, balloon and solo airplane, and project operations director and chief engineer Enevoldson in conjunction with NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. Their objective was to prove the possibility to achieve un-powered flight to tremendous altitude by literally 'surfing' from one mountain wave to another - to increasingly greater height. Taking advantage of these wave patterns while maintaining control in ever-thinner air has proven a big challenge - with success finally coming in this, the team's 5th season of attempts on three continents. The combination of meaningful meteorological and aerodynamic research manifested itself in NASA's supply of the space suits - similar to those worn by astronauts and pilots of ultra-high-performance jet reconnaissance aircraft.

* pending certification by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI)

For more project news and free-for-news-use photos on 'The Perlan Project' see www.Perlanproject.com