Kinda looks nice, floating away alone.
Posted on 05/27/2008 6:31:49 AM PDT by dayglored
(CNN) -- French skydiver Michel Fournier's bid for a record-breaking parachute jump from Earth's stratosphere was aborted Tuesday when the balloon that was to carry him into the far reaches of the sky slipped away from his flight crew.
The former paratrooper had hoped to set new records for the highest jump, fastest free fall, longest free fall and the highest altitude reached by a man in a balloon. But those hopes drifted away over the plains of Saskatchewan when the balloon escaped.
Still clad in his bright yellow pressure suit, the visibly frustrated Fournier waved away cameras after his ride slipped away shortly after 5 a.m. (7 a.m. ET). There was no immediate word on how the effort was botched, but his flight crew was attempting to recover the balloon, according to his official Web site.
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(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
After I posted, I knew I should have stated something specific about high altitude balloons...
OPPS! The Bozo realized this was a long slow Death for Himand He bribed the Ground Crew to “Accidently” Loose
the Balloon! WOW! That was a close one, but did You ever really expect a Frenchman to do something Brave or Life Threatening!
In which case his project would still be mired in the planning stage, tied up in court by NIMBYites.
My cousin’s ex-husband was responsible for arming the balloons the Colonel Kittinger used for his jumps. After he jumped, Sam would detonate an explosive belt around the balloon so that it wouldn’t drift to Canada or Mexico and rather fall back to New Mexico. His first jump was in Nov 1959 from 76,400 feet and he lost consciousness, but the automatic parachute saved him. Three weeks later he jumped from 74,700 feet. In Aug 1960 he jumped from 102,800 feet and fell for 4 1/2 minutes reaching 614 mph before opening his chute at 18K. He set records for highest balloon ascent, highest parachute jump, longest drogue-fall (14 min), and fastest speed by a human through the atmosphere.
Le ballon rouge
Are you saying that they aren’t Boy Scouts?
Le froggie was disappointed...C’est la Vie!
I wonder if the same crew packed his parachute?
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