PRESQUE ISLE (WGME) — The first successful trans-Atlantic balloon launched from Presque Isle in 1978.

Early Thursday morning, a group of pilots took flight with the goal of crossing the Atlantic Ocean and landing in Europe.

The Atlantic Explorer 2026 is a gas balloon that uses hydrogen.

If successful, this balloon team would be the first to cross the Atlantic using hydrogen as the lifting gas. All others used helium.

“They can vent hydrogen to go down, although they try to avoid doing that. They have expendable weight in the form of sand ballast,” Atlantic Explorer 2026 Press Officer Kim Vesley said.

The hydrogen balloon in the air on its way to Europe. (Courtesy: Bert Padelt)

They can offload the weight to make the balloon go up, or keep it from coming down.

And there are three pilots inside.

“They work in shifts, and they have everything they need: food, clothing, water, a little port-a-potty type bucket,” Vesley said.

The hydrogen balloon in the air on its way to Europe. (Courtesy: Bert Padelt)

“The trajectory and the winds that they have available to them determine where they will come into Europe. It could be probably 3,100 to 3,500 miles, in that vicinity. They expect to be aloft four to six days,” Vesley said.

They have survival equipment, including a life raft, survival suit and more in case of an emergency, but they’re all optimistic.

The hydrogen balloon in the air on its way to Europe. (Courtesy: Bert Padelt)

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“These are all friends with a common goal. That is to do something very special and very rare. The other thing is they may also set a couple of world records during this for the size and type of balloon they are flying,” Vesley said.

To track where the balloon is and the flight path it’s taken, you can visit their website.

A Massachusetts photographer was seriously injured when he was stabbed during a wedding reception last month in Raymond, Maine.

Donald Halsing, 26, was hospitalized for five days after the stabbing on May 23. NBC affiliate News Center Maine reported that 26-year-old Andrew Manderson was arrested and charged with elevated aggravated assault.

Still recovering, Halsing told NBC10 Boston the attack came out of nowhere — one moment, he was snapping photos on the dance floor, while the next, he was searching for help as blood spilled onto his camera.

“I was sitting there in that chair thinking, ‘There’s a real possibility I could die here,’” Halsing said. “Immediately, I put my hand on my chest here to try and stop the bleeding, get some pressure on it, and started yelling for help.”

Halsing was working at the reception at the Kingsley Pine Campgrounds. He took his last photo at 9:01 p.m., minutes before the stabbing.

“One of the wedding guests came up to me and started asking questions about our business,” he said.

Halsing said it was nothing out of the ordinary, and he tried to explain his photography business to the inquiring guest through the pulse of the DJ booth and celebrating guests.

“I thought he was going to reach in his back pocket for his phone, and instead, he didn’t pull out his phone — he pulled out a pocket knife and stabbed me,” he said.

Manderson, who faced a judge days later, is a cousin of the bride.

“There was this look in his eyes that he wasn’t quite all there,” Halsing said.

Halsing’s fiancée, Ashley Wall, was feet away as he struggled to stay awake. She has been his photography partner for eight years since they met at Framingham State University, and she was helping him work the wedding.

“People who were around me, they asked, ‘What can we do to help you? What do you need?’ And I said, ‘Please go check on Ashley. Please go check on my fiancée,’” he recalled.

Halsing spent five days in the hospital suffering from two lacerations to his liver, ultimately developing a blood clot in his left leg. But the road to recovery exceeds his physical wounds as he contemplates his mental state when he resumes photography next year.

“I’m also worried about what lingering effects there might be,” he said. “If we get out on the dance floor and I start remembering what happened, I don’t know how I’m going to react.”

Halsing still doesn’t know why he was attacked.

Manderson was released on $50,000 bail and is due back in court in October.