French adventurer Michel Fournier’s quest to set a world skydiving record may have come to an end after his $200,000 helium balloon escaped and floated into space without him attached on Tuesday.
Although the launch appeared to be going perfectly, the surprise disconnection of the giant balloon took the assembled crowd by surprise. There was an audible gasp as the clear plastic balloon rose into the sky after an hour of filling from a helium truck, but without Mr. Fournier’s capsule beneath it.
Hilarious!
Fournier has already spent more than $12 million on his record bid, with his most recent two-week effort costing him over $650,000. Aren’t there better uses of money? Most of it is coming from his own pockets and sponsers, who surely can’t be happy at yet another failure (he failed in 2002 and 2003).
The helium balloon was to take Fournier in a specially designed suit able to withstand up to -65 degrees celcius, which was essential as he planned to drop from 130,000 feet in the sky. That dream, for now, will just have to remain a dream.
[Source]
Related Entries:
0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.
You must log in to post a comment.