The Virgin Global Flyer is well on its way as of this morning. If you haven't heard about this endeavor, Steve Fossett, a Burt Rutan plane and Richard Branson's wallet are attempting to complete the first non-stop solo round the world flight.Fossett is known for his adventuring, having already broken several aviation records including the first solo balloon trip around the world. Burt Rutan is obviously famous for his pioneering aircraft design. And Richard Branson is famous for, well, being Richard Branson.
Anyway, the unusual looking Virgin Global Flyer left Salina, Kansas yesterday and as of this writing, is at 45,000ft over Algeria. The flight is scheduled to take 66 hours at a crusing speed of about 300 knots. So Steve Fossett essentially has to stay awake for almost three days. He's going to subsist on Diet Milkshakes.
You can follow the progress of the GlobalFlyer at http://www.virginatlanticglobalflyer.com/MissionControl/Tracking/ - they've got some neat interactive tools and live video.
This could well be one of the last classic aviation records to be broken.