KARUNA SHIHSHO, CNN ANCHOR: It's good-bye Australia and hello Pacific Ocean for U.S. balloonist Steve Fossett. He's on his sixth attempt to fly solo around the world. Mark Gibson reports on Fossett's relatively smooth flight so far and the challenging stage of the journey ahead.</s>MARK GIBSON, REPORTER: After flying across Australia for two days, Steve Fossett enters a dangerous new phase of the journey: traveling over water for the first time. The 57-year-old crossed the New South Wales coast near Port Macquarie into the huge expanse of the Pacific Ocean. But Fossett has hit a major hurdle. Suffering altitude sickness, he's consuming twice as much oxygen as expected.</s>STEVE FOSSETT: I'm really at my limit, with my pulse over 100 and my oxygen saturation well below what doctors think is acceptable.</s>GIBSON: Fossett won't see land again for five or six days, when he hopes to reach South America. The world record feels like a long way off.</s>FOSSETT: It's a very long way from success, and there are so many obstacles in front ever me; I just don't know how to predict the odds.</s>GIBSON: Earlier, an unexpected trait, Fossett deliberately losing altitude so country music capitol could catch a glimpse of the balloon.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought, This is great; someone famous is going over our school.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was silver, and it was Steve Fossett flying over our school.</s>GIBSON: Mark Gibson.
Balloonist Fossett Heads Out Over Pacific