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The Attempts to Break a 50-Year-Old Free-Fall Record Continue
Popular Mechanics ^ | Jennifer Bogo

Posted on 05/19/2010 1:15:57 AM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld

As Joe Kittinger found out in 1960, it’s hard to jump from a height of 102,800 feet—let alone in an open gondola, in minus 100 F temperatures, wearing 160 pounds of equipment—and survive. As Michele Fournier reaffirmed this weekend on an airfield in Saskatchewan, it’s even more difficult to break that 50-year-old record for the highest free fall.

The French parachutist attempted, for the fourth time, to rise to a height of 130,000 feet in a pressurized capsule dangling beneath a high-altitude air balloon, then step out of it and hurtle toward Earth at supersonic speed, breaking the sound barrier. One of the previous attempts, which began in 2002, left Fournier remaining on the tarmac due to bad weather; another resulted in a torn parachute and a mechanism that fired prematurely, separating the capsule from the balloon just as it took off. This year he returned to North Battleford with a brand new balloon and launch team—American pilots who told me they used vacation days to “come up here and get this guy to where he wants to go.”

The surface winds at 2:30 am on Sunday, when the team began setting up for the attempt, were around 6 knots—right at the edge of the window of safety for launch. The headlights of a forklift pierced the blackness as it lumbered from a small metal hanger on one end of the airfield to another, ferrying a large plywood box with the balloon packed neatly inside. In the distance, Fournier’s silver capsule, shaped like a bullet, sat illuminated in a cone of light. At 4 am, the sky lightened to a deep purple, then a smoky blue, and by 4:18 the Canadian flag whipping over the main terminal had slowed to a lazy wave, and then finally hung limp from its

(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: altitude; balloon; gondola; highaltitude; joekittenger; science; soundbarrier; space; supersonic

1 posted on 05/19/2010 1:15:57 AM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
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To: sonofstrangelove

Sounds like his equipment is badly designed and sucks s**t all around.

His reserve chute popped open during a pressurization test? What the hell does that mean? That the parachute pack was somehow hermetically sealed or the clod got the D-ring caught on something?


2 posted on 05/19/2010 1:32:03 AM PDT by sinanju
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To: sinanju

The guy is 66, he’s too old for it.


3 posted on 05/19/2010 2:00:42 AM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: sinanju

It could be that the chute was suppose to deploy at a certain altitude (air pressure) if he failed to act (blackout)


4 posted on 05/19/2010 2:00:59 AM PDT by LukeL (Yasser Arafat: "I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize")
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To: sinanju

It could be that the chute was suppose to deploy at a certain altitude (air pressure) if he failed to act (blackout)


5 posted on 05/19/2010 2:01:00 AM PDT by LukeL (Yasser Arafat: "I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize")
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To: LukeL

That makes the most sense. And he plumb forgot that the device was still on. Sounds like Alzheimers to me.


6 posted on 05/19/2010 2:10:50 AM PDT by sinanju
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To: tet68

Never too old to hit the ground and go splat.


7 posted on 05/19/2010 2:39:56 AM PDT by Bernard (One if by Land, Two if by Sea, Three if by Government)
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To: sonofstrangelove

Seems like the Fates really don’t want this guy to try it; maybe he should listen...


8 posted on 05/19/2010 3:27:30 AM PDT by Jack Hammer
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To: sonofstrangelove
Just to give everyone an idea of what it'd be like, here's a shot from Joe Kittinger's 1960 jump, which was nearly 30,000 feet lower than what Michele has been attempting:

Were it me making the jump, I think a reserve chute would not be as important as a change of underpants.

Perhaps several changes!

9 posted on 05/19/2010 3:37:40 AM PDT by DemforBush (There's another old saying, Senator: Don't p*** down my back and tell me it's raining.)
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To: sonofstrangelove
I believe that one of the Man High subjects (may have been Kittenger) had his main chute pop on him, in the capsule, while he was on the tarmac waiting for lift-off. He repacked it himself, without getting out of the capsule.
10 posted on 05/19/2010 3:39:46 AM PDT by Steely Tom (Obama goes on long after the thrill of Obama is gone)
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To: DemforBush
yeah...I would DEFINITELY make some changes.

For instance, if I wanted to break the previous record, i'd add, like, 5 feet. maybe 10. 30,000 is overkill (literally) hahaha :)

11 posted on 05/19/2010 3:47:15 AM PDT by ZinGirl
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To: sonofstrangelove
The senior citizen version of this event.

12 posted on 05/19/2010 4:28:12 AM PDT by TSgt (We will always be prepared, so we may always be free. - Ronald Reagan)
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To: Cincinna; AdmSmith; Berosus; bigheadfred; Convert from ECUSA; dervish; Ernest_at_the_Beach; ...
The French parachutist attempted, for the fourth time, to rise to a height of 130,000 feet in a pressurized capsule dangling beneath a high-altitude air balloon, then step out of it and hurtle toward Earth at supersonic speed, breaking the sound barrier.
Thanks sonofstrangelove. This guy should consider himself lucky.
13 posted on 05/19/2010 7:06:02 PM PDT by SunkenCiv ("Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others." -- Otto von Bismarck)
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