Balloon pair soar into history with new world record

Two pilots soaring over the Pacific Ocean have made history by first matching, then surpassing the 5,209-mile official world distance record for human flight in a gas balloon.

“There it is! There it is!” shouted team members at the flight’s mission control in Albuquerque as a giant screen showed the helium-filled Two Eagles balloon passing the record set by the Double Eagle V in 1981.