The fearless Michel Fournier aims to hurl himself out of a balloon halfway to outer space
Posted 04.22.2008 at 12:34 pm
3 Comments
(Incredibly) High Dive
The current record-holder, Joseph Kittinger, making his historic jump from 102,800 feet up.
Burkhard Bilger last summer in the New Yorker wrote a fascinating profile of Michel Fournier, a retired French army parachutist who has spent quite a bit of his retirement and his savings on chasing the world record for highest parachute jump. The article is no longer online (there is an abstract) but it is well worth digging up from your local library. Fournier has attempted the jump a handful of times already, only to be foiled by last-minute snafus. As the profile explains, it is a tremendously complicated thing to hurl oneself out of a balloon basket at 130,000 feet. Quite a lot can go wrong. If events since the article's publication have held true, Fournier's newly scheduled attempt for next month will likely be his last.
The jump would not only be the highest ever, it would also propel Fournier into the record books at the highest and fastest parachute speed—1.3 times the speed of sound—as well as breaking the mark of the highest air balloon flight. The attempt is scheduled for May 25th over the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. He'll board a pressurized capsule attached to a 525-foot helium balloon; as he rises, the pressure will be slowly let off so that he'll be able to open the hatch and make his jump. At that height, he'll be nearly halfway to outer space.
Via PhysOrg
3 Comments
To comment, please Login.
|
|
|
|
|
|
June 2013: American Energy Independence
Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more.
Popular on Popsci
Most Commented
Technology
- Defense Distributed's Cody Wilson On Being Told To Remove 3-D Printed Gun Plans: "We Win"
- Thieves Stole $45 Million From ATMs Because The U.S. Uses Absurd 40-Year-Old Technology
- A California State Senator Is Trying To Outlaw 3-D Printed Guns
- 2013 Invention Awards: Family Flier
- Autonomous X-47B Jet Fighter Makes Historic First Launch From An Aircraft Carrier
- U.S. Navy Spends $37 Billion On A Ship That Barely Works
- Time-Lapse GIFs Show Earth Transforming Over 25 Years
- How To Turn An AK-47 Into A Soup Ladle
- How The World's First 3-D Printed Gun Works
- Iran Unveils Absurd New Stealth Drone
Most Emailed
Technology
- 7 Reasons Why 'Star Trek Into Darkness' Is A Beginner's Guide To Star Trek [Spoiler Alert]
- America's Road To Energy Independence, Part 1
- Video: MIT's Cheetah Robot Trots, Then Gallops
- Mapping The Simpsons' Slow Descent Into Suckitude
- Google Bets $10.7 Million On Drone Intelligence
- Concept Skyscraper Generates Its Own Energy, Looks Like A Toilet Brush
- Robot Plane Flies Humans 500 Miles
- Google And NASA Team Up In Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab
- How NASA Could Save Kepler
- Inside The Army's Sunshine Simulator
Most Viewed
Technology
- 7 Reasons Why 'Star Trek Into Darkness' Is A Beginner's Guide To Star Trek [Spoiler Alert]
- America's Road To Energy Independence, Part 1
- Video: MIT's Cheetah Robot Trots, Then Gallops
- Mapping The Simpsons' Slow Descent Into Suckitude
- Google Bets $10.7 Million On Drone Intelligence
- Concept Skyscraper Generates Its Own Energy, Looks Like A Toilet Brush
- Robot Plane Flies Humans 500 Miles
- Google And NASA Team Up In Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab
- How NASA Could Save Kepler
- Inside The Army's Sunshine Simulator
Online Content Director: Suzanne LaBarre | Email
Senior Editor: Paul Adams | Email
Associate Editor: Dan Nosowitz | Email
Assistant Editor: Colin Lecher | Email
Assistant Editor: Rose Pastore | Email
Contributing Writers:
Rebecca Boyle | Email
Kelsey D. Atherton | Email
Francie Diep | Email
Shaunacy Ferro | Email
Today on PopSci.com
Copyright © 2012 Popular Science
A Bonnier Corporation Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
That hieght makes me want to vomit, just because im feeling the Force of the Earth.
If there was no gravity; and I could move any direction that I wanted; as close or near without falling, that would be ideal.
This Man is Brave to face up to this much Reality. Must be Bliss.
height*
ok personally breaking the sound barrier using nothing but gravity and your body sounds fun, my only problem ...er problems with it are : lack of air *fixable* being shattered at the cellular level if the parachute fails *not fixable* and that finding a parachute that can handle that would take forever.