The balloon completed its circumnavigation of the world shortly before 1000 GMT on Saturday.

BBC: Desert touchdown for balloon heroes

His achievement now sees him join an elite list of about 300 people who have completed solo-circumnavigation sails.

BBC: Gerry Hughes and his boat Quest III

The journey is made up of eight legs, with sailors able to join for one of these, or the full circumnavigation.

CNN: November 8, 2012 -- Updated 1414 GMT (2214 HKT)

James Cook, a year into his circumnavigation of the world, observed the transit of Venus over the Sun's disc, the main purpose of his voyage.

CNN: Tuesday,

Among them is Briton Sam Davies, who in 2008 finished fourth in the Vendee Globe -- a non-stop, solo circumnavigation renowned as the toughest sailing competition on the planet.

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Chichester had just sailed his yacht, Gypsy Moth IV, around the world in what was the first true circumnavigation via the three Capes of Hope, Leeuwin and Horn, making only one stop.

BBC: Chichester's round-the-world voyage - archive film

Nor was it the silvery inflated sphere, ten storeys high and fitted with giant propane burners, in which in 2002 he had made the first solo circumnavigation of the globe by balloon.

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Australian Lisa Blair, who also completed the full circumnavigation on a different yacht, raised part of the money for her trip through a sponsored 1, 300 kilometer cycle ride from Sydney to the Sunshine Coast.

CNN: November 8, 2012 -- Updated 1414 GMT (2214 HKT)

This is her first solo circumnavigation.

BBC: Richards heads round globe

Although he draws too much on his earlier writings, Peter Nichols in a fine new book suggests that the rot of sponsorship set in here: a trophy of a golden globe and a cash prize offered by the Sunday Times for, respectively, the first and the fastest circumnavigation.

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