A HAMPSHIRE balloonist is shooting for the stars in an attempt to break the world altitude record for a manned balloon flight this summer.

Colin Prescot, from Stockbridge, near Winchester, and Andy Elson hope to fly a staggering 25 miles - 132,000ft - high in the largest balloon ever made.

If successful, the pair would also become the first Britons ever to command a manned space mission.

The current record of 21.5 miles or 113,789ft was set 41 years ago by US Navy pilots Malcolm Ross and Vic Prather.

Prather died after landing in the Gulf of Mexico in their 1961 effort.

This summer's attempt will see the team soar to the edge of space seated on an open flight platform for about 12 hours, wearing pressurised space suits.

Colin, 51, a commercial balloonist and managing director of hot air balloon operator Flying Pictures Ltd, said he and Andy had been interested in the project for several years.

He said: "To go to this kind of altitude and to attempt to do something that has not been done for over 40 years is the ultimate professional challenge for a balloonist, and I've always had my eye on it.

"For me it's the schoolboy image of two men on an open deck in space suits, under the biggest balloon in history in an ink-black sky with the curvature of the earth underneath, and being able, with modern technology, to be able to communicate that back to the earth, I think is going to be an awesome experience."

The balloon will be launched in the south- west of England when weather conditions are favourable, between July and September. It will be visible to the naked eye within a 600-mile radius of the launch site.

In 1999 Mr Prescot failed in an attempt to fly around the world after his balloon ditched in the Pacific off Japan.