Atlantic Explorer 2026 Flight Control

Peter & Barbara have finally completed their long journey back to New Mexico from Europe. Here they are welcomed back by friends and members of the local ballooning community.

We hope you’ve enjoyed following the journey of Atlantic Explorer…

Checking out the stats on this page… We can see that there have been 1.8 million views in the past 28 days!

Incredible! 🤩

Thank you Claude for the kind words ❤️

Saying Goodbye… Over to Bert

Today, we will fly home. Last night, l said goodbye to the Atlantic Explorer and quietly thanked her for taking care of Peter, Alicia, and l during our incredible flight across the Atlantic last week. I would like to thank our new friends, Claude Weber, and all of the members of the Balloon Club Cercle Luxembourgeois de I'Aerostation for all of their help and hospitality during these last few days. Some would say it is a coincidence that we flew close to 3,000 miles and landed in the hands of these kind people. I, however, would like to think that it was meant to be.

I am proud to think that our flight has put such a positive light on our wonderful sport of ballooning over the past week. A light that is long overdue.

The image below has been compiled by Head of Flight Control, Kevin Stass.

The image includes details of all 13 Transatlantic balloon crossings (except those that were made as part of a round-the-world flight). The graphic shows the landing sites on the Eastern side of the Atlantic. Therefore, it does not include the La Ciudad de Helva flight that went from East to West and landed in Venezuela 🇻🇪

Enjoy! ☺️

By Royal appointment 👑

This morning, Bert, Peter, Joanie, Barbara & John were honoured to be invited to the Palais Grand Ducal to meet Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg 🇱🇺

After a well earned sleep it’s been a busy day sorting all the equipment which we carried onboard.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Cercle Luxembourgeois de l’Aérostation for their hospitality and warm welcome ❤️

This afternoon we have received a message from Transatlantic Balloon Challenge pilot Deborah Scholes…

“We would like to say a huge congratulations to Bert, Peter, Alicia and the whole team for an incredible flight and the completion of a lifelong dream for Bert. Outstanding and well deserved!”

All the best,
Mike & Deborah Scholes

**SUBJECT TO OFFICIAL VERIFICATION**

Launch: 0608 UTC, Thursday 4th June 2026, Presque Isle, Maine, USA 🇺🇸

Landing: 0419 UTC, Sunday 7th June 2026, Bastendorf, Tandel, Luxembourg 🇱🇺

Flight time : 70 hours 11 minutes
Distance: 5,282.03km (2,852.07nm)

Packing up with the help of Claude Weber and team! 🥂👌💪🏻