The Great Leap, Michel Fournier attempts jump from 130,000ft on Sunday

[labrys 0]

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maybe someone on the ground witnessed someone physically detaching the balloon.

Where was Cheryl Stearns this morning???

Owned by Remi #?

[woodpecker 0]

I have to agree with you piisfish...after how many years/attempts and its always some "interesting" excuse on why it doesnt happen. No wonder he has sponsor problems. Hope it happens, but doubt he will ever be the one to do it.

SONIC WOODY #146

There is a fine line between cockiness and confidence -- which side of the line are you on?

[mdrejhon 8]

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Meanwhile, 30 miles downwind, a new "Roswell" conspiracy is born, as fragments of alien spacesuit fabric from a crashed UFO are discovered in the countryside...

It could very well be in a totally different country -- it's an awfully lot of unballasted helium.

[Scoop 0]

The only reason he went to Canada in the first place was because back home the French had blockaded everything.

[BillyVance 34]

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the balloon is inflated, he is suited up and the wheather looks good - what can stop him now?

Answer to myself: His balloon floats away unexpectetly...

MWAHAHAHAAAHAHAH

that was the funniest excuse EVER

Seriously, is this guy for real? His baloon floated away?

Oh psssh... all he needs to do is close his eyes and click his heels together three times and say the words "there's no place like 130,000 feet, there's no place like 130,000 feet, there's no place like 130,000 feet"

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[CSpenceFLY 1]

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The only reason he went to Canada in the first place was because back home the French had blockaded everything.

Looks like the french finally got one right.

[Airgump 1]

reminds me of the French Army rifle for sale on e-bay.........."never fired, only dropped once"

too bad the three stooges have passed on, this latest debacle would have made a great episode.

[PERRYSTONE04 0]

maybe he can ask NASA for a lift

[mnealtx 0]

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maybe he can ask NASA for a lift

Nah....Spectre230 already did that when he jumped the Space Shuttle....

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[cpoxon 0]

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John,

The partial pressure suit (PPS) leaves several areas of the body unpressurized (both feet and the wrist area of each hand) and it utilizes "capstans" (it's the tubes that run up/down the sides of the suit) which inflate and actually pull the fabric tight. Both gloves are connected with a tube and inflate with capstans also. Those suits aren't really designed for extended wear at high altitude, but some do use it.....Crazy I know but it works.

NASA's launch/reentry suits are also PPS's. I helped "man rate" that design post-Challenger.

Reason for utilizing a PPS v. a FPS is that they typically weigh less than a FPS. Probably some other reasons but I don't know them....

Steve Truglia thinks using a Partial Pressure Suit could be fatal. From http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/business/story.html?id=a25cd75c-c21f-459a-b9fb-6d8ea7d7928c

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Skydiving daredevil's botched launch may have saved his life: British rival
Janet French, Canwest News Service
Published: yesterday 4:25 pm
NORTH BATTLEFORD, Sask. - A French adventurer's attempt to break four world records by skydiving from the edge of the stratosphere flopped Tuesday when the balloon that was to be his ride floated away without him.

Then, Michel Fournier's dream suffered another blow - a rebuke from a fellow daredevil, a British adventurer who's planning to make the same jump himself.

"I think if he had launched he would have seriously injured himself or gotten killed," Steve Truglia said Tuesday from London.

Truglia, who wants to do a "space jump" in July in the Southwestern U.S., said Fournier's attempt to skydive from 40 kilometres over Saskatchewan was likely doomed by Fournier trying to go too big - with a capsule too heavy and too large a helium balloon.

"It's a nightmare to launch a balloon of that size," Truglia said.

"I just look at it and think, 'This guy hasn't really thought this out.' "

Fournier scrubbed a Monday launch of his 600-cubic-metre helium balloon in North Battleford, Sask. because of weather conditions.

Then, under a perfect blue sky early Tuesday morning, his mission failed again when his $200,000 balloon floated away without him.

When Fournier's balloon began rising from the ground, a small crowd of spectators and journalists began to cheer. Within seconds, though, cheers turned to groans as they realized the balloon was not attached to the silver-coloured capsule that was to carry Fournier.

Fournier had entered the capsule around 2:30 a.m. to begin breathing the pure oxygen that would cleanse his bloodstream and body tissues of dissolved nitrogen that might fizz into a gas as he ascended, giving him a potentially fatal case of the bends.

Sealed into a capsule that looked like a telephone booth wrapped in quilted insulation, Fournier breathed the pure oxygen for two hours as the 90-metre-high balloon was filled with helium from a nearby tractor-trailer.

When Fournier reached an altitude of about 1,500 metres, he was to have opened his parachute.

At one point, plunging through the near-vacuum of the stratosphere, Fournier was supposed to have reached supersonic speeds, an accomplishment which he said would provide invaluable data for possible high-altitude ejections and parachute descents from troubled spacecraft.

There was no immediate explanation of what went wrong.

Truglia said the malfunction may be a blessing in disguise - he said Fournier likely would have died if he'd ascended 40 kilometres and attempted the leap.

Without a fully pressurized space suit, Truglia said, Fournier's hands could have swollen up and his blood could have boiled inside his body. That, he added, would have made it very hard, if not impossible, for Fournier to open the door of his capsule or pull his rip cord.

Truglia also questioned whether Fournier had fully assessed the hazards of a sonic boom. If he used a regular sport parachute, he said, an air pressure-sensitive backup chute might have been triggered 30 kilometres above the earth, suspending him there for too long.

When asked if his criticisms were coloured by being Fournier's main competitor, Truglia said he was just telling it like he sees it.

Truglia, who has done stunts in films such as Saving Private Ryan and two James Bond movies, as well as several television shows, has almost finished building a gondola and designing a full pressure space suit for his space jump.

His website, www.spacejump.co.uk, says he plans to do a practice jump from 16 kilometres up in or near Oklahoma next month, and wants to do his big stunt from 37 kilometres up in a similar location. He calls it the "ultimate fairground ride."

"This is the last big stunt on Earth," Truglia said. "This is a career pinnacle."

Truglia will decide in about a week whether he wants to change his 37 kilometre target height. His capsule weighs less than a tenth as much as Fournier's, he said.

As for Fournier touting his quest as a scientific mission, Truglia said there's no information a space jumper could gather that scientists don't already know.

Space tourists would be better off escaping from a doomed shuttle in an escape pod than by skydiving anyway, he adds.

Fournier's jump was to have broken four world records: the world's highest skydive, the loftiest manned balloon flight and the longest and fastest free fall.

Although critical of the French retired colonel's plight, Truglia said he'd be the first to pat Fournier on the back if he had succeeded in his super-jump.

"He's seen his dreams go up and literally float away," Truglia added. "I can imagine what he's feeling right now, and it's not a happy place to be."

Skydiving Fatalities - Cease not to learn 'til thou cease to live

[Beerlight 0]

I agree with him on that..... !!

I was just stating an almost obvious fact.

Still, Fournier looks to be using a partial suit.... Maybe someone else could clarify

[flyingpolarbear 0]

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The partial pressure suit (PPS) leaves several areas of the body unpressurized (both feet and the wrist area of each hand) and it utilizes "capstans" (it's the tubes that run up/down the sides of the suit) which inflate and actually pull the fabric tight. Both gloves are connected with a tube and inflate with capstans also. Those suits aren't really designed for extended wear at high altitude, but some do use it.....Crazy I know but it works.

NASA's launch/reentry suits are also PPS's. I helped "man rate" that design post-Challenger.

Reason for utilizing a PPS v. a FPS is that they typically weigh less than a FPS. Probably some other reasons but I don't know them....

Perhaps Michel Fournier selected a partial pressure suit because that is what the astronauts wear at launch/re-entry!

Keep in mind, he was originally selected to tests ways that astronauts could escape from the European version of the space shuttle, which was emerging after the Challenger disaster.

If he wears a full pressure suit, then the jump would lose real-world value, because astronauts will not wear a full pressure suit during launch/re-entry, or have the time to put one on during an accident.

The goal, I think, is to see whether this can be done in a way that can be later applied to improve the safety of space travel.

If he dies during the attempt, at least data will be collected to understand the dangers of astronauts jumping out of their spacecraft in their partial pressure suits.

This jump has its roots in a real research program, and is making an important contribution. Steve Truglia's upcoming attempt is also wonderful but I didn't understand his sharp comments toward Fournier - he is jabbing him a bit too much I think.

[Beerlight 0]

Or was it the cheaper alternative?

[BillyVance 34]

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Or was it the cheaper alternative?

Quite possible... It was mentioned earlier that he sold his house to finance the jump.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[billvon 2,989]

>If he wears a full pressure suit, then the jump would lose real-world
>value, because astronauts will not wear a full pressure suit during
>launch/re-entry, or have the time to put one on during an accident.

Right. But astronauts will also not ascend for several hours in an unpressurized environment.

One picture of him shows him with the partial pressure suit in a chamber. Had he tested the suit at the same pressures he will see at exit altitude for the same amount of time, then he could test the system to see if the lack of pressurization will be an issue.

[headcase 0]

Was the unpressurized zone of the suit the crotch? That would make the late John Holmes envious as Fournier rockets through the stratosphere with 10 lb balls and a 2 ft johnson.

Is that where "Fournier's Gangrene" originates.

[reinhart36 0]

20 million dollars - that doesn't include all the beer he's going to owe us, does it?

[piisfish 140]

Michel Fournier, That's one small step for (a) man.. That's all

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[Erroll 80]

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Michel Fournier, That's one small step for (a) man.. That's all

I'm curious to know what axe you have to grind with Fournier?

[ElJosh 0]

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I'm curious to know what axe you have to grind with Fournier?

He's French?

DS #149
Yes I only have 3 jumps...it's the magic number dude.

[virgin-burner 1]

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I'm curious to know what axe you have to grind with Fournier?

He's French?

and fish is russian!!!

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[piisfish 140]

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I'm curious to know what axe you have to grind with Fournier?

this person has shown through time that he is a dreamer.
I want to believe. I sincerely hope he does the jump. I also honestly doubt he will.
From the info on his website, this person is obviously a mythomaniac.

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[Erroll 80]

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...he is a dreamer.

And I am sure he is not the only one.

Just imagine if he did pull it off.

[piisfish 140]

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...he is a dreamer.

And I am sure he is not the only one.

Just imagine if he did pull it off.

It's easy if you try, no Hell below us, below him only sky

I wish he did, I'd be the 1st one (or simultaneously with many others) to be super happy, impressed, admirative etc etc... And after that the world will live as one

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[flyingpolarbear 0]

Captain Joseph Kittenger just added these comments in a NY Times article:

Reached by telephone at his home outside Orlando, Fla., Kittinger, 79, said: “I had my fingers crossed for him. The poor guy has worked all these years, spent all this money. I feel sorry for him. I really do.”

Personally, I am inspired by his determination. All of his previous launch attempts were scrubbed by silly problems with the balloon.

This reminds me of Steve Fossett's multiple attempts to become the first person to fly a solo balloon around the world. He ran into multiple glitches but he realized that the mission was still do-able.

Some people are easy quitters, but our world is shaped by those innovators and explorers that push the limits of the mind, when the physical world is telling them it is possible.