LONDON - A British adventurer fell agonizingly short of becoming the first person to fly over the North Pole in a balloon - but had the consolation of being able to claim a first by making it over the Arctic Ocean.
David Hempelman-Adams, 44, was told by his flight controllers early Thursday to abort his mission just 13 miles short of the Pole because of strong winds - and exhaustion.
He lifted off on Sunday from Longyearbyen, the main town on Norway's Svalbard islands, for a 600-mile solo flight in a 80-foot-tall helium balloon.
Hempleman-Adams, speaking by satellite phone, said he had two things on his mind after having had just four hours sleep in four days.
''I need to get my head down (and) I'm really looking forward to a cup of tea.''
The first attempt to fly in a balloon from the Svalbard islands to the North Pole, in 1897, ended in tragedy for a Swedish expedition when the three flyers crashed and later died after spending three months on the ice.
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