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All About S. A. Andr�e's Arctic Balloon Expedition of 1897
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Andr�e's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 was an effort to reach the North Pole in which all three expedition members perished
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Andr�e , the first Swedish balloonist, proposed a voyage by hydrogen balloon from Svalbard to either Russia or Canada, which was to pass, with luck, straight over the North Pole on the way
The scheme was received with patriotic enthusiasm in Sweden, a northern nation that had fallen behind in the race for the North Pole.
Andr�e ignored many early signs of the dangers associated with his balloon plan
Being able to steer the balloon to some extent was essential for a safe journey, and there was plenty of evidence that the drag-rope steering technique he had invented was ineffective; yet he staked the fate of the expedition on drag ropes
Worse, the polar balloon �rnen (The Eagle) was delivered directly to Svalbard from its manufacturer in Paris without being tested; when measurements showed it to be leaking more than expected, Andr�e refused to acknowledge the alarming implications of this
Most modern students of the expedition see Andr�e's optimism, faith in the power of technology, and disregard for the forces of nature as the main factors in the series of events that led to his death and those of his two companions Nils Strindberg and Knut Fr�nkel .
After Andr�e, Strindberg, and Fr�nkel lifted off from Svalbard in July 1897, the balloon lost hydrogen quickly and crashed on the pack ice after only two days
The explorers were unhurt but faced a grueling trek back south across the drifting icescape
Inadequately clothed, equipped, and prepared, and shocked by the difficulty of the terrain, they did not make it to safety
As the Arctic winter closed in on them in October, the group ended up exhausted on the deserted Kvit�ya (White Island) in Svalbard and died there
For 33 years the fate of the Andr�e expedition remained one of the unsolved riddles of the Arctic
The chance discovery in 1930 of the expedition's last camp created a media sensation in Sweden, where the dead men had been mourned and idolized
Andr�e's motives have since been re-evaluated, along with assessing the role of the polar areas as the proving-ground of masculinity and patriotism
An early example is Per Olof Sundman's fictionalized bestseller novel of 1967, The Flight of the Eagle, which portrays Andr�e as weak and cynical, at the mercy of his sponsors and the media
(This was later adapted and filmed as Flight of the Eagle, 1982, directed by Jan Troell.) The verdict on Andr�e by modern writers for virtually sacrificing the lives of his two younger companions varies in harshness, depending on whether he is seen as the manipulator or the victim of Swedish nationalist fervor around the turn of the 20th century.