A Swiss Family's Triple Crown
A ballooning dynasty proves what goes up also goes down--and round the world
For Bertrand, the flight around the world was a metaphor for life: You travel with the wind, but you can change your course by catching a new wind. Now he is working with a Swiss university to make a solar-powered plane that will fly nonstop around the world.
The next generation, Bertrand's blue-jacketed 13-year-old daughter, Estelle, helps prepare his hot-air balloon for the flight with the president by holding up the balloon's edge as it fills. She and her little sisters hate being asked if they're going to be explorers, Bertrand says. They tell him they are still too young to know.
Bertrand's father, Jacques, now 81, is delighted with his family's successes. "You know, I was proud and happy to be the son of my father," he says. "And now I am proud and happy to be the father of my son."
DID YOU KNOW?
Louise Arner Boyd broke the ice for female explorers by leading seven 20th-century expeditions into the Arctic--and in a 1955 journey became the first woman to fly over the North Pole. Born into an affluent San Francisco family, Boyd journeyed in style: "I powdered my nose before going on deck, no matter how rough the sea was," she wrote. "There is no reason why a woman can't rough it and still remain feminine."
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