[sinanju]

Sounds like his equipment is badly designed and sucks s**t all around.

His reserve chute popped open during a pressurization test? What the hell does that mean? That the parachute pack was somehow hermetically sealed or the clod got the D-ring caught on something?

[Jack Hammer]

Seems like the Fates really don’t want this guy to try it; maybe he should listen...

[DemforBush]

Just to give everyone an idea of what it'd be like, here's a shot from Joe Kittinger's 1960 jump, which was nearly 30,000 feet lower than what Michele has been attempting:

Were it me making the jump, I think a reserve chute would not be as important as a change of underpants.

Perhaps several changes!

[Steely Tom]

I believe that one of the Man High subjects (may have been Kittenger) had his main chute pop on him, in the capsule, while he was on the tarmac waiting for lift-off. He repacked it himself, without getting out of the capsule.

[TSgt]

The senior citizen version of this event.

[SunkenCiv]

The French parachutist attempted, for the fourth time, to rise to a height of 130,000 feet in a pressurized capsule dangling beneath a high-altitude air balloon, then step out of it and hurtle toward Earth at supersonic speed, breaking the sound barrier.

Thanks sonofstrangelove. This guy should consider himself lucky.