( CNN ) A team piloting a helium-filled balloon across the Pacific has set two major ballooning records . On Friday , the Two Eagles balloon , piloted by American Troy Bradley and Russian Leonid Tiukhtyaev , surpassed a gas balloon world record for duration aloft . The record of 137 hours , 5 minutes , 50 seconds was set by Double Eagle II on a 1978 transatlantic flight . According to rules set by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale , the record must be surpassed by 1 % in order to qualify as a new record . The Two Eagles reached that point Friday at 10:51 a.m . ET . Officially , the record has n't been broken . It may be weeks or months before the U.S. National Aeronautic Association reviews and documents it . Friday 's duration achievement follows another milestone Thursday , when the balloonists surpassed a 1981 distance record for gas balloons , set by Double Eagle V. Under the same rule , the balloonists had to best the 1981 record of 5,208 miles or 8,382.54 kilometers by 1 % . With that distance margin safely surpassed , the balloon is expected to land Saturday on the Baja Peninsula in Mexico , completing its 6,000-mile journey . The Two Eagles balloon launched from Saga , Japan , on January 24 . The pilots and the support team on the ground have been tweeting about the journey .
Balloon expedition across the Pacific sets two gas ballooning records . The balloon is expected to land Saturday in Mexico . It launched from Japan last week .