My Friend, Steve Fossett

By Richard Branson

I first met Steve Fossett on a freezing January evening at the Busch stadium in St. Louis, Mo., in 1997. He was about to attempt a solo circumnavigation of the world by balloon, and although we were rivals, I decided to see him off in the spirit of sportsmanship that still inhabits the world of record-breaking. As I neared his balloon, a TV crew approached, and I found myself being filmed chatting with a man I thought was on his team. I said one had to be a bit mad to test oneself in this way. The quiet American in front of me looked at me sympathetically and said, "I am Steve Fossett."

That was the beginning of a long and close friendship with one of the most generous, good-natured and kind people I have ever met but also one of the bravest and most determined adventurers and explorers of all time. Steve held more world records than any other human being. He began adventuring in a modest way, swimming the English Channel in 1985. Over the next 22 years, he amassed 115 records in aviation, gliding, ballooning, sailing, boating, mountaineering, skiing, triathlon, even dogsledding. He truly was the adventurer's adventurer.

Less well known is Steve's fantastic success in business, which allowed him the focus in later life on pushing the boundaries of human endeavor and materials technology in pursuit of whatever goal he set his mind to achieving. Within 14 years of graduating from Stanford, he had worked for IBM, become a leading Chicago futures broker, set up his own business and made his first million dollars. Through all this, Steve developed an acute understanding of risk, something essential in business but also in pushing other frontiers.

In no project that Steve undertook did he demonstrate management of risk with greater skill than during his circumnavigation of the globe in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer. He later described this in his autobiography, Chasing the Wind, as one of his proudest achievements. The aircraft, displayed in the Smithsonian Institution, is a unique carbon-composite jet that led the way in new, energy-efficient technology now being developed by Boeing and Airbus. Steve proved it was possible to safely fly an ultralight high-altitude jet burning lean fuel. He did so by sitting in one alone for 3 1/2 days without rest (apart from a few of his legendary power naps) in difficult weather conditions at altitudes of 50,000 ft. (15,250 m); a mechanical failure meant temperatures inside his tiny Perspex canopy for a time reached 130 degrees F (55 degrees C). Passengers on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which is expected to burn 30% less fuel than today's jets, will have a lot to thank Steve for.

But Steve got there first and helped give confidence to airlines like Virgin to order the first generation of modern planes not built of metal. His epic flight also led the way for the design of a unique aircraft we are now building to launch people, payload and science into outer space next year. We plan to name it Spirit of Steve Fossett in his honor.

Steve's latest project was to have been to push the frontiers of aerodynamics and fuel technology in car design by attempting the supersonic land-speed record next year from a dry salt-lake bed in Nevada. He may have been looking for alternative sites for this attempt when his light aircraft disappeared without a trace on Sept. 3.

When I look back at my friendship with Steve, I realize we were very different people, but there were many things that we had in common. Steve put it best when he told me, "People often assume I am a thrill seeker, but I am not. I do not enjoy roller coasters, and you won't find me bungee-jumping... It is a disadvantage that my pursuits are inherently dangerous. A large part of my effort is to reduce the risk."

I and all his many friends around the world miss Steve very much. On behalf of them, I would like to extend our thoughts and prayers to his lovely wife, Peggy. It is hard to say goodbye to a true American hero when a part of me can't help thinking he will still walk out of that harsh and unforgiving desert that encompassed so much of what he loved about the great outdoors.