Story highlights Mayor: Two men are safe, picked up by fishing boat

An American, Russian took off last Sunday from Japan carried aloft by a helium balloon

The 2 set records for time in the air, distance traveled in a non-heated gas balloon

(CNN) They didn't go around the world, but then again it didn't take them close to 80 days. Regardless, it's likely Jules Verne would be very proud of American Troy Bradley and Russian Leonid Tiukhtyaev, who broke records crossing the Pacific together in a balloon.

The two left Japan in their gas balloon, dubbed Two Eagles, last Sunday. Six days later, they touched down just off western Mexico.

"#TwoEagles has LANDED SAFELY just off the coast of Baja Mexico," the team tweeted at 6:30 a.m. (9:30 a.m. ET),

This happy ending was historic, albeit not entirely surprising: Less than two hours earlier, a post on the 50-year-old New Mexico pilot's Twitter account said "#TwoEagles has begun their (descent) and turn toward land." Later messages, as well as a live flight-tracking online, showed the balloon getting nearer and nearer to the beach.

Another great photo from 15,000 feet, near Midway. Follow the flight of #TwoEagles http://t.co/HN2WwQD4ia pic.twitter.com/rhfJI01MYC — Troy Bradley (@TwoEaglesTeam) January 27, 2015

By the time Bradley and Tiukhtyaev hit the ground, they'd made history: having traveled some 6,646 miles (10,696 kilometers) and spending 161 hours and 17 minutes aloft in the air together.

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