1.   Branson and Lindstrand have made many long-distance balloon flights together, including record-setting flights across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

2.   Adventurer Richard Branson and two crewmates soared aloft Tuesday from Marrakesh, Morocco, to attempt the first round-the-world balloon flight.

3.   After the crash and his rescue by a passing yacht, he said he was not sure he would ever attempt a transglobal balloon flight again.

4.   China, Libya and Iraq, among others, have thwarted balloon flights.

5.   Conventional balloon flights are thus limited by the amount of ballast that can be carried.

6.   He has generally preferred competing solo, rather than as a team member, and all but the most recent of his balloon flights were made alone.

7.   His effort last year to lead the first nonstop round-the-world balloon flight ended in failure.

8.   How could the balloon flight be longer than that?

9.   Lindstrand, who has two children, is also a veteran of several transoceanic balloon flights.

10.   Some are trained in the intricacies of balloon flight and are called pilots.