Attempt at record high parachute jump goes bad again

Frenchman Michel Fournier has been attempting for 20 years to do a parachute jump from 25 miles high. His latest attempt failed yesterday when, just before the planned lift-off in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, the 650 foot high helium balloon that was to carry Fournier up to his jump point 130,000 feet above the earth somehow detached itself from the gondola with Fournier inside and floated away. The present high-altitude parachute record is held by Joe Kittinger, a U.S. Air Force test pilot who leaped from 102,800 feet in 1960.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at May 28, 2008 06:08 AM | Send