Jennifer Murray a.k.a. Supergran

Chris Dong

Jennifer Murray was born in June, 1940 in Providence, Rhode Island. The grandmother of five only learned how to fly a helicopter 13 years ago but soon after entered the Guinness Book of Records as the first woman to circumnavigate the globe in one. She circumnavigated the world aboard a Robinson R44 helicopter, the distance of 36,000 miles in 97 days in 1997.

On the 6th of September, 2000, Murray became the first woman to make a solo flight around the world in a helicopter. The journey took 99 days. After that,she wrote a book about that journey, named Now Solo: One Woman's Record-breaking Flight Around the World, which was printed in 2002.

Her journey has never stopped. In 2007 Murray successfully co-piloted a circumnavigation of the Earth over the North and South Poles with pilot Colin Bodill. Before that,their first attempt in 2003 ended in a near fatal crash in Antarctica. "You've not failed until you stop trying," said Murray,who had spent three years preparing for her second attempt.

As you see, Murray is such a brave woman, although she is 69 years old. However, what inspires me mostly is her kindness. She always devotes herself to charities. "My motive was to create a world record and have a fantastic adventure," she said, after her circumnavigation in 2000, "however, I didn't want to do this without raising money for charity as well." Her journey raised over one million euros for Operation Smile, a charity which provides facial surgery for children in developing countries.

She has earned lots of awards and honours in her life and her journey is still going on.