Steve Fossett, 63; Adventurer of the Seas and Skies

Starting in the 1980s, adventure sports increasingly became part of his vacation plans. He participated in a 100-mile cross-country skiing marathon in Canada, the Ironman triathlon in Hawaii, the Iditarod sled-dog race in Alaska, the 24 Hours of Le Mans car race and four English Channel swims.

It was another decade before he made international news, for his 1995 balloon flight from Seoul to Saskatchewan. It marked the first time an aeronaut crossed the Pacific Ocean alone in such a craft.

Over the next decade, he spent millions of dollars trying to set records in hot-air balloon travel. In 1998, he joined forces with his rival in flight, Richard Branson of the Virgin Group business empire, but then focused on breaking the solo balloon circumnavigation record after the European team of Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones became in 1999 the first balloonists to circle the globe.

Along the way, Mr. Fossett was credited with being the first to fly alone over large stretches of daunting land. He also experienced many downings, including in New Brunswick, Canada, and rural northeastern India.

In 1998, a thunderstorm with hail ended his balloon flight somewhere over the Coral Sea He was sent spiraling 29,000 feet, and he told an interviewer that he was at first plunging at a fatal rate of 60 feet per second.

Using a knife, he slashed away the fuel tanks at 3,500 feet, which reduced the rate of fall, but he still blacked out when the craft slammed into the water. He soon awakened to find the balloon taking on water.

"I made a rather hasty exit from the capsule -- it was on fire," he told National Geographic Adventure magazine. "I just got out with my long underwear, a life raft, and a rescue beacon."

It was 23 hours before a yachtsman spotted him.

In 2005, he set an aviation record for solo, nonstop flight around the world. His old partner, Branson, paid for the plane, the GlobalFlyer. The plane, an experimental aircraft featuring 13 fuel tanks, landed back in Kansas after making a 23,000-mile trip in 67 hours and one minute.

Survivors include his wife, Peggy Viehland Fossett, an admitted "white-knuckle" traveler he married in 1968. He discovered her fear of heights when he piloted her to a honeymoon spot in the Bahamas in a single-engine aircraft. Thereafter, she remained at home while he scouted his next trip. She usually refrained from commenting publicly about her husband's adventures.

Mr. Fossett described himself as having a "very low boredom threshold."