Duo's Bid to Cross Pacific

Two adventurers took off from Japan in a hot-air balloon early Tuesday, attempting to be the first to cross the Pacific Ocean since British entrepreneur Richard Branson made the trip in 1991. Team leader Michio Kanda, 54, and his partner fired burners before dawn to lift their red, yellow and blue balloon into the air from heir launch site north of Tokyo. Called the Amanogawa No. 2, the 120-foot-tall balloon is about eight times bigger than the average hot-air balloon with a square, mostly aluminum gondola. Kanda said the flight would probably take about 50 to 60 hours. He and his partner, 26-year-old graduate student Naoki Ishikawa, plan to land somewhere in Canada, or in Washington or Oregon, depending on wind conditions.