Before the test flight the balloon was renamed the "Great Western", on the advice of newspaperman Horace Greeley, to rival the maiden voyage of the steamship "Great Eastern" in the spring of 1860. Lowe made the flight successfully on June 28, 1860, from Philadelphia to New Jersey, but on his first attempt at a transatlantic launch on September 7, the "Great Western" was ripped open by a wind. A second attempt on September 29 was halted when the repaired spot on the balloon bulged during inflation. Lowe would need to overhaul the "Great Western" and wait for the next late spring.