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Two British pilots have been forced to put off an attempt to make a record-breaking balloon flight to the edge of space, until next year.
Colin Prescot and Andy Elson have cancelled the launch of the £2 million flight in QinetiQ1 - which is taller than the Empire State Building - after the balloon lost a "substantial amount of helium" during preparations.
Prescot, 53, from Stockbridge, Hants, and Elson, 50, from Wells, Somerset, had been breathing pure oxygen for several hours before the launch which was set for between 8.30am and 9am.
Earlier, the pair said "everything is going according to plan".
The 1,270ft tall balloon had hoped to smash a 40-year-old altitude record having taken off from the prototype trimaran warship Triton anchored off St Ives, Cornwall.
A five-hour ascent to soar 25 miles above Earth was hoped would take the balloon to a record of 132,000ft.
Their target was the 113,740ft record set in May 1961 by Malcolm Ross and Vic Prather, of the US navy, with their Strato-Lab as part of the US space programme.
The balloon - sponsored by UK science and technology research company QinetiQ - is made from nine acres of superthin polythene and would have been visible from as far away as London during the flight.
Once at the record altitude the pilots had hoped to carry out scientific experiments.
Prescot and Elson were due to launch yesterday morning but cloud cover posed the risk of tonnes of ice forming on the balloon.
The record attempt, more than two years in the planning, was postponed from last year because of unsuitable weather and this year they have waited since July for a suitable weather window.
Colin Prescot and Andy Elson have cancelled the launch of the £2 million flight in QinetiQ1 - which is taller than the Empire State Building - after the balloon lost a "substantial amount of helium" during preparations.
Prescot, 53, from Stockbridge, Hants, and Elson, 50, from Wells, Somerset, had been breathing pure oxygen for several hours before the launch which was set for between 8.30am and 9am.
Earlier, the pair said "everything is going according to plan".
The 1,270ft tall balloon had hoped to smash a 40-year-old altitude record having taken off from the prototype trimaran warship Triton anchored off St Ives, Cornwall.
A five-hour ascent to soar 25 miles above Earth was hoped would take the balloon to a record of 132,000ft.
Their target was the 113,740ft record set in May 1961 by Malcolm Ross and Vic Prather, of the US navy, with their Strato-Lab as part of the US space programme.
The balloon - sponsored by UK science and technology research company QinetiQ - is made from nine acres of superthin polythene and would have been visible from as far away as London during the flight.
Once at the record altitude the pilots had hoped to carry out scientific experiments.
Prescot and Elson were due to launch yesterday morning but cloud cover posed the risk of tonnes of ice forming on the balloon.
The record attempt, more than two years in the planning, was postponed from last year because of unsuitable weather and this year they have waited since July for a suitable weather window.
