CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN ANCHOR: On a summer day in the English countryside, a group of balloon enthusiasts with lofty ambitions embarked on a mission. But as CNN's Walter Rodgers reports, there are ups and there are downs to any great challenge.</s>WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is not Harry Potter with a fire-belching dragon breathing down his neck, nor is it kiditch (ph). It is instead a British attempt to break a world record for massive hot-air balloon launches. The record is 127 balloons up in one hour. Hopes were higher than some of the balloons.</s>BRIAN JONES, BALLOONIST: There will be a lot of frontiers crossed this morning, you know, with 80-odd pilots going up and everybody -- the adrenaline's pumping. It's very exciting.</s>RODGERS: The balloonists did well, launching nor than 90 balloons in the first half hour. And the pristine skies over England's West Country were abloom in color. But with all the commercial sponsors, there were moments of naked hot-air capitalism, sponsors afloat. And there are things capitalism cannot buy, like world records. This first attempt only put 117 balloons up in an hour, 10 short of the record.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just come straight in here.</s>RODGERS: Still, spectators did not appear to share the disappointment of the record-seekers.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hopefully, you hardly notice it.</s>RODGERS: A soft landing was the much sought after consolation prize on what was otherwise a flawless summer day o'er the land of Counterpane. Walter Rodgers, CNN, London.
British Balloonists Fall Just Short of World Record