Man, 64, to free fall for seven minutes
Jim Farrell, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Saturday, May 24, 2008
NORTH BATTLEFORD, SK. - If the weather co-operates, a giant metallic teardrop will rise into the sky over this Saskatchewan town early Monday morning, just as the eastern horizon turns from black to red, and a silver-haired French skydiver will set off in search of four world records.
Two and a half hours later, if all goes as planned, 64-year-old Michel Fournier will open the door of the capsule hanging from that balloon at a world-record altitude of 130,000 feet -- and step out.
Thirty seconds later, with only a hint of atmosphere to slow him at an altitude of 117,000 feet, Mr. Fournier will punch through the sound barrier and shatter another record: the fastest human-only descent. Thirteen seconds after that, he'll be falling at 1.68 times the speed of sound, in an environment where the temperature has plunged to - 115 C.
At 5,000 feet -- just seven minutes after stepping out of his gondola -- Mr. Fournier will open his parachute, having set two more records: the longest free fall in history and the longest time spent in free fall.
Mr. Fournier was the star of the show yesterday at a news conference in North Battleford, which is about 130 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon. As TV cameras from Canadian and French national networks captured his every word, he was asked the obvious question: Why?
Mr. Fournier, answering through an interpreter, said his quest started in tragedy: the 1986 explosion of the American space shuttle Challenger during takeoff. Since the Europeans were planning on building their own space shuttle at the time, the European Space Agency decided they should investigate the problems of exiting a spacecraft at a very high altitude as a means of saving the crew.
So in 1987, the French ministry of defence funded a project to have a parachutist jump from 127,000 feet, and the next year, Mr. Fournier -- a military paratrooper and star skydiver -- was selected to do the "super-jump." But the jump was scrapped after the Europeans cancelled their shuttle program.
That rankled Mr. Fournier, so he left the French military in 1992 and began collecting money and sponsors to make the jump on his own.
In 2000, he seemed ready, but when he asked the French government for permission to make the jump, they turned him down.
The balloon required to make the jump would be huge -- 116 metres in height on takeoff. The capsule itself would weigh hundreds of kilograms because of its communication gear and life-support equipment. To have that much mass fall to Earth would be dangerous -- and France is a densely populated country, Mr. Fournier was told.
In 2001, the Canadian government offered up North Battleford, since the surrounding area contains few people and there are virtually no lakes -- making the chances of an unconscious jumper landing in water and drowning virtually nil.
After two failed attempts to properly inflate the balloon, Mr. Fournier believes he's finally got the design right, and expects to head for the edge of space without a hitch on Monday.
At 130,000 feet, he will vent the pressure from his coffin-like capsule and begin breathing the rarefied oxygen within his space suit. Then he will step out into an environment where the sky is dead-black rather than blue. A small chute will pop out from his backpack to stabilize him into a head-down position. He will then begin his long fall to Earth.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2008
UPDATE: Monday May 26, 12:39 PM: NORTH BATTLEFORD, SK. (Globe & Mail.com) — Retired French paratrooper Michel Fournier's record-setting-skydive attempt in Saskatchewan was delayed twice Monday, first by cloud cover and then by high winds.
Mr. Fournier's team will make another attempt beginning at midnight Tuesday. The jump requires low winds and clear sky.
Mr. Fournier's launch crew had assembled at the North Battleford, SK., airport shortly after midnight Monday, but decided to postpone the launch because of cloud cover.
North Battleford, Saskatchewan (eCanadaNow) May 27, 2008 - The latest attempt for French Adventurer Michel Fournier to conquer the world record in highest skydive was scrapped early Tuesday as the balloon that he was scheduled to ride a lot in rose without him.
At a crisp 5:06am local time, the massive three layer helium balloon rose swiftly into the sky over the prairie where the attempted had been scheduled to take place.
The initial response of cheering turned to groans when the public and press gathered realized that the balloon was rising solo, without the gondola capsule that would have carried Fournier to nearly 40,000 metres in a little over two hours.
Fournier had been breathing oxygen for over two hours to begin his preparations, having been on oxygen since 2:30am. Breathing oxygen in preparation helps prevent against nitrogen bubbles in the blood at low pressures.
The helium balloon had begun to be filled normally, and was rising as expected for a short time. After an initial period, the balloon inverted and began to behave erratically. After a short time the balloon suddenly broke loose and tore into the sky: alone.
The reason for the mission failure was not released, but will be covered in a press conference this afternoon near the launch point.
***Postponed Until he returns to Saskatchewan in August***
No comments:
Post a Comment