[FPSPACE] High Jump Record (131, 000 feet) attempt may happen Monday {ELGR:SPAM}

[John Locker]

Just found this in my inbox.....!!!   it relates to the satellite TV feed I 
was watching earlier ............. Dohhhhhhhh !

Anyway , the attempt was abandoned , after the balloon had been laid out 
which is a rather expensive scrub as the
envelope was slated as costing $500,000  !

Thankfully , they have a spare.

John
UK

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Pesavento" <pjp961 at svol.net>
To: <fpspace at friends-partners.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 25, 2008 5:35 PM
Subject: [FPSPACE] High Jump Record (131, 000 feet) attempt may happen 
Monday {ELGR:SPAM}


> >From Agency France Presse..
>
>
>
> http://rawstory.com/news/afp/French_parachutist_aims_for_skydivi_05252008.ht
> ml
>
>
>
> French parachutist aims for skydiving record
>
> Published: Sunday May 25, 2008
>
>
>
> French parachutist Michel Fournier will try early Monday to break a
> skydiving world record by plunging from a balloon into thin air 40
> kilometers (25 miles) above Canada's vast western plains.
>
> "As MacArthur once said, youth is not a period of one's life but rather a
> spiritual state," joked the 64-year-old skydiver, referring to the World 
> War
> II-era US military commander, general Douglas MacArthur.
>
> The jump, beginning from the outer reaches of the stratosphere about four
> times higher than the cruising altitude of a commercial
> <http://rawstory.com/news/afp/French_parachutist_aims_for_skydivi_05252008.h
> tml##>  jet, is his life's dream and could someday lead to rescuing
> astronauts in-flight, he said.
>
> Fournier and his team were making the final arrangements early Sunday in 
> the
> small city of North Battleford, Saskatchewan to send him to the heavens in 
> a
> stratospheric balloon.
>
> At 40,000 meters (131,000 feet), he planned to throw himself into the void
> wearing a pressurized suit capable of withstanding extreme temperatures of
> minus 100 degrees Celsius (minus 148 Fahrenheit), and become the first
> free-falling man to breach the sound barrier, hurtling toward Earth at 
> more
> than 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) per hour.
>
> Weather permitting, the former military officer will make the historic and
> dangerous jump at dawn Monday, his team told a press conference.
>
> "This project is a great scientific and human challenge," said Fournier.
> "This is my baby, my dream. I just want to realize my dream."
>
> If he succeeds, Fournier will actually break four world records: for 
> fastest
> freefall, longest freefall, highest jump, and highest altitude reached by 
> a
> man in a balloon.
>
> Fournier is no stranger to high-altitude adventure. He claims more than
> 8,600 jumps to his credit and holds the French record for the highest
> parachute jump at 12,000 meters (40,000 feet).
>
> His latest skydiving attempt, several years in the works, comes after two
> unsuccessful jumps in 2002 and 2003 and speaks to his determination. His
> balloon tore the last time, but he bought a new one for this trial.
>
> The moment just after take-off promises to be the most perilous, as it 
> would
> be impossible to eject during the ascent, his team leader Richard Correa
> said.
>
> Thereafter, if Fournier loses consciousness during the jump itself, his
> parachute would automatically open, he explained.
>
> If all goes well, Fournier is expected to land some 30 kilometers (19 
> miles)
> southwest of North Battleford, where a helicopter will be waiting to pick
> him up.
>
> Pressed about his age, Fournier was quick to point out that American
> astronaut John Glenn returned to space at age 77.
>
> "There is a heart attack risk up there, so we've done tests to ensure that
> his heart is capable of withstanding the pressure," said Henri Marotte, a
> specialist in space medicine at the University of Paris.
>
> "He's in very good physical condition."
>
> Before Fournier, in 1960 American Joseph Kittinger jumped from 31,333 
> meters
> (102,799 feet) as part of a medical experiment, and in 1962 Russian 
> Evgueni
> Andreiev jumped from 24,483 meters (80,325 feet) to set a world free-fall
> record.
>
> The area of North Battleford was chosen for Fournier's jump, he said,
> because it is scarcely populated and so there is less risk that his
> 1.6-tonne balloon and basket will fall and crush someone.
>
> An alternate site in Kiruna in northern Sweden was considered but it is
> surrounded by lakes, and as Fournier explained, "with my full equipment 
> on,
> I swim like a rock."
>
>
>
>
>
>


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