G650 Crew Attempts Record Polar Circumnavigation
Dubbed "One More Orbit," the flight launched at the same time and location as the Apollo 11 mission a half century ago.
A Qatar Executive Gulfstream G650ER took off this morning from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a mission entitled "One More Orbit." It will attempt to break the speed record for the polar circumnavigation of the Earth. (Photo:  Chris Garrison)
A Qatar Executive Gulfstream G650ER took off this morning from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a mission entitled "One More Orbit." It will attempt to break the speed record for the polar circumnavigation of the Earth. (Photo: Chris Garrison)

To commemorate the launch of the first moon landing 50 years ago this month, an international team of pilots at the controls of a Qatar Executive Gulfstream G650ER is attempting to break the polar circumnavigation of the Earth record for any aircraft. The ultra-long-range twinjet took off this morning at 9:32 a.m. from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the same time and location where the Apollo 11 launch took place in 1969 and is required to finish there according to the sanctioning bodies Féderátion Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) and the Guinness Book of Records.