THE East Lancashire man behind the failed attempt to break the world balloon altitude record today pledged to bring the title to Britain.

"We are disappointed, but determined to succeed next year," said former Lancashire Evening Telegraph journalist Alan Noble, the Burnley-born flight director.

He was speaking from the deck of the prototype Triton warship which was to have been the launchpad to take the manned balloon to the edge of space and into aviation record books.

The mission was cancelled when the balloon began losing helium during inflation yesterday.

"While we are all very deflated, there is still a sense of elation," said Mr Noble. "Everything we were attempting was theoretical.

"All the equipment was working well and then two years' work went in an instant when we were let down by a tear in the balloon's envelope. We thought about repairing it on the spot, but the safety of the pilots is paramount."

Mr Noble said he would stay with the team which would make a second attempt at the American-held world record, probably in April or May next year.

" Yesterday would have been ideal, but the next window of opportunity will not come again until next spring, he said."

British pilots Andy Elson, from Somerset, and Colin Prescot, from Hampshire, aimed to burst through the 42-year-old record after an eight-hour flight.

In spacesuits designed to cope with temperatures as low as minus 70 degrees C , they planned to climb 25 miles into the stratosphere with the QinetiQ 1 balloon which, at 1,270 feet tall, is as high as the Empire State Building.

Andy and Colin are both professional balloonists and already hold the world endurance record.

Mr Noble was flight director in 1999 for the Breitling Orbiter 3, the first balloon to circumnavigate the globe. It marked an 18-year battle by Mr Noble, 52, formerly of Rosehill Road, Burnley, to break the record.

Mr Noble, who attended Burnley Grammar School, took up ballooning in 1974. He left journalism in the 1960s and works for the Bristol firm Cameron Balloons, which made the giant Breitling Orbiter and acted as consultants to QinetiQ 1.