As a ground crew prepared it for launch, the Challenger blithely snapped its moorings and soared into the bright Moroccan sky as Branson watched in horror from his hotel room. "I could see it going up and I knew that one way or another I should have been on it, something was wrong," he was quoted as saying on the Challengers projects web site. Having reached 60,000 feet, the wayward balloon decided to lead the chase plane sent to track it across the Atlas mountains into neighboring Algeria.
Branson hopes to recover the Challenger and resume his quest shortly. After all, its not as if hes needed back at the office.