Second Atlantic crossing under way

Steve Fossett is back out over the Atlantic again, attempting something that has never been done by an aviator before: crossing the ocean a second time in a bid to set a new long-distance flight record.

Stretched out in a tubular seven-foot cockpit, Fossett is piloting the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer on a northbound course that roughly will parallel the eastern seaboard of the U.S.

He passed over an area near his embarkation point -- the shuttle runway at NASA's Kennedy Space Center -- ahead of schedule and now is in the home stretch of what promises to be the longest flight in aviation history.

In the process, Fossett became the first and only person to circumnavigate the globe twice on nonstop solo flights without refueling. He became the first to fly an aircraft solo around the world last March.

On his current flight, Fossett has tallied more than 22,383 miles. He's headed toward Newfoundland, Canada, and then plans to turn to the east, flying a couple of hours toward the middle of the Atlantic before making a crucial decision.

By about 6:30 a.m. EST Saturday, Fossett will have to decide whether his dwindling fuel supplies will be adequate to continue on to Ireland and then England. If not, he'll have to turn back before exhausting the fuel that would be needed to return safely to a North American runway.

But if all goes well, tailwinds are good and fuel supplies hold out, Fossett aims to land at Kent International Airport outside London about 1:30 p.m. EST Saturday.

Doing so would cap a 26,000-mile trip that would best the current record for the longest flight in aviation history, a hot-air balloon mission undertaken by two pilots back in 1999.