At this moment, a 400 foot streak of silver is floating across a perfect, calm, Saskatchewan spring morning sky.
And, at this moment, the capsule it was attached to remains on the ground.
It’s uncertain what happened – human error or malfunction – but the balloon separated from its payload at liftoff. Local residents are reporting that the balloon is beginning to descend about 8 miles northwest of the Battlefords.
Update – The launch manager Dale Sommerfelt (via radio interview) reports the balloon has been located 15km west of the Battlefords. No decision has been made about a future attempt – the balloons are designed for single use, and they don’t have a backup. A briefing will be held later today.
(Yesterday’s post continues below)
CP;
After a delay earlier in the morning over concerns about winds, a French skydiver has decided to proceed with his bid to try to make history by jumping from the stratosphere above Saskatchewan.
Michel Fournier is scheduled take to the sky Monday morning in a capsule attached to a massive helium balloon and then step out and free fall 40,000 metres to the Earth.
Fournier’s launch manager, Dale Sommerfeldt, said Monday morning the wind is light at the launch site in North Battleford, Sask.
Sommerfeldt said the staff was about to start filling the helium balloon for Fournier’s launch.
The latest by radio is that the wind has risen a little, but that the jump is still a go.
Fournier’s website is here, but under heavy traffic load this morning, so may be slow to access.
Update: latest report is that they have not yet started filling the balloon, so any launch will be after 8am local time, given the 90 minutes that takes. But so far, winds are within allowable limits.
Update: Wind from the SE at 9. They’re doing final checks, and hoping for a 9 am launch time.
I have appointments this morning, and can’t stay on this, so readers are invited to do so in the comments. Hopefully, all goes well!
Update: Postponed on a day-to-day basis, due to wind changes this morning.
Think he’s crazy myself…but this is from someone who considers a hot air balloon ride risky. ;~)
… From 40,000 meters? Might he not go through a fast freeze at that height? Can thaw on the way down, but still, 15 mins. in length and at that speed … think I’ll stick to strong coffee and less drama to wake me up.
…still getting the local weather forecast, will stay tuned.
I wonder how many times he will be able to say “I Surrender” on the way down?
I get enough excitment getting a haircut and backing out of the driveway in the morning so this is over the top for me.
Yeah ldd, he would freeze if he was unprotected – that’s why he’s wearing a suit capable of withstanding temperatures as low as minus 100C.
At CTV someone named Steve left this comment,
Let us not forget (then) USAF Lt. Joseph Kittinger who, on August 16, 1960, made the final jump from the Excelsior III at 102,800 feet (31,330 m). Towing a small drogue chute for stabilization, he fell for 4 minutes and 36 seconds reaching a maximum speed of 614 mph (988 km/h or 274 m/s) before opening his parachute at 18,000 feet (5,500 m). Pressurization for his right glove malfunctioned during the ascent, and his right hand swelled to twice its normal size. He set records for highest balloon ascent, highest parachute jump, longest drogue-fall (14 min), and fastest speed by a human through the atmosphere.
As you go about your activities today, Kate, hope you are wearing a helmet as I suspect there might be a large block of ice….oh, nevermind.
Well, when you grow up in a society where everything is relative, and la vie c’est merde and there is nothing life has to offer but temporal pleasure does this kind of thing surprise anyone? The last Frenchman with a real sense of adventure and fortitude was killed by a German in WWI. Only the cowards and collaborators were left. This is extreme adolescent thrill seeking.
This is an amazing feat, no matter how you look at it; he’s jumping from an altitude several times ABOVE the point where your blood would spontaneously boil because of the vacuum, and he’s expecting to almost reach Mach 2 (1.7 times the speed of sound). I wish him the best of luck.
Yeah … LOL Frenchie77, likely surrendering to the gravity gods – literally.
So which falls faster from 40,000 meters, an unused rifle or a frozen frog?
Scientific minds want to know! :~)
And did he pay his carbon credits, ahem, first?
News of the Future – Michel Fournier is dead.
At 40,000 meters, that is at such low atmospheric pressure that blood will boil. He will therefore be protected with a pressure suit.
I gotta admire the man, even as I question his sanity. May he have God and luck with him.
It seems a bit absurd in the least to question the courage of someone about to make this leap into the record books.
“This is extreme adolescent thrill seeking.”
Yeah, so?
I wonder how far down he’ll go if he thunders in????
I don’t care what anyone thinks- I think the whole thing’s cool. The guy’s got cojones, what with jumping out of a perfctly good balloon at the edge of space.
Fournier’s leap sure beats “Dancing with the Stars”. I’ll take foolhardy courage mixed with quirky ambition over telegenic moronic pap any day.
God speed and safe landing. North Battleford might even get a decent picture for it’s next Sasktel phone book if this guy make it!
Jump called off (for now?)
http://www.qr77.com/News/National/Article.aspx?id=23120
My guess is that the cause for the scrubbed launch was either global warming or a sudden bout of sanity.
Hefty dose of prayer is recommended before flights of the fantastic.
Mind you one would have considerable time for prayer on the way down.
If one were to adopt the position of the naysayers, you would never have had the Wright brothers get off the ground.
I suspect our french adventurer will be back.
Given that the jetstream could provide substantial drift, not having the right conditions, could put your landing spot off by a hundred kilometers or better.
Cheers
Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht
Commander in Chief
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North”
Called off ?? Because, maybe it will be too cold ? On the ground this eve in North Battleford ?
[EC; Night: Clear. Low plus 3 with risk of frost.]
And to think the days will start getting shorter in only three weeks.
I used to skydive myself.
This jump would be an amazing thing to do. There is no comparison to the rush of jumping out of a perfectly good airplane (or balloon in this case) and free-falling through empty space. Doing so from 130,000 feet would be indescribable. I hope he’s wearing a helmet cam as I’d love to see the view.
I’m envious of the opportunity.
Fall fast Frenchmen!
Due to overcast weather condition early this morning, we had a delay of 2 hours as a result when Michel Fournier arrived at the launching pad it was a little after 6h00am . Upon arrival at the launching pad, Michel started breathing oxygen for the next 2 hours ; however, during that time the wind started picking up. By 8 o’clock, we sent out weather ballon to check the wind speed and did another test at 8h30 and at 9h00, i twas then decided to postpone the jump for the next day . Weather forecast for tomorrw is exxcellent.
Been in a hot air ballon three times – great experience !!
Pilot-in-command makes the go, no-go decision.
Better to be on the ground wishing you were up there than up there wishing you were on the ground !! 🙂
The lengths people will go for attention amazes. He’s gotta be right up there with Garth Turner in his need for attention.
Wonder if he has family whose concern for him he’d be considering in this risky stunt?
Would be exciting to have a ride in hot air balloon, it’s not the same thing at all.
A ride in the Goodyear Blimp would be awesome.
My hat off to him. The world could use more people willing to do gutsy things like this – a bit of technology and a lot of balls.
When we look back on Lindbergh crossing the Atlantic it might not seem like much, but at the time that too took guts given the aviation technology available at the time.
Wonder when we’ll see a hard-core Muslim attempt something daring like Fournier, something that gives society a reason to dream big, something that pushes the limits, something truly adventurous?
Can you say never, unless you count flying planes into skyscrapers?
My wife asked why he was doing it over Saskatchewan, I replied; “Because it is large and flat!”
I suspect that having a big enough airspace to avoid splattering against a airliner was also involved.
Because the nice straight borders will make a neat picture frame as seen from 25 miles up !!
From what i have heard on local radio he chose north battleford because there is little population in the surrounding area. I thought they said he could end up about 20-40 miles away from the initial launch site.
Also it’s not an attention thing,I thought I heard it will provide a lot of information for space shuttles, if the astronauts have to bail from that high up.
And i think if you are spending 12 million there is more too it then attention getting.
Colin
I suspect the best chance of landing on open flat ground, away from trees, water etc is an important reason for choosing Sask. He certainly won’t need to worry about landing on a hard paved road.
I must confess, I initially viewed this as simply a thrill-seeking stunt as well, and it may well be that that is the major component of it. However, after seeing the segment on CTV about him last night, I tempered my opinion. Michel Fournier is apparently a former French paratrooper — tough characters if you’ve ever met them, and pretty serious as well. An interesting point was raised about developing information which might be useful in rescuing astronauts either from a rocket launch gone wrong, or as part of a system for rescuing astronauts from orbit — including information on human beings moving at supersonic speeds!
While I haven’t looked at the details and wouldn’t be in a position to judge how technically realistic such investigations would be, it was intriguing and somewhat changed my view on the whole venture.
Comments, observations from any aerospace engineers out there?
This report is not confirmed, but an undercover journalist working with ICU News (LTD), Gino Capucinno has learned that The Big Jump has been funded, in part, by the same folks who are coming to the aid of the infamous “Canadian Six”. Or is it seven?
In any case,Mr. Fournier has agreed to snap photos on his way down that will prove, conclusively, there is an increase of Muslims in Saskatchewan. This material will be tabled as evidence, next month, when Mark Steyn faces off against the British Columbia human rights commission.
I think Sask. farmers should strategically place large hay bales to offer the softest landing possible.
Given the space shuttle difficulties in years past ; being able to bail out at super high altitudes would provide valuable survivability information.
We should dub this the modified space suit as “CFHRV”:
Canadian French Human Re-entry Vehicle
Cheers
Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht
Commander in Chief
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North”
I’m not an aerospace geek but there have been a number of “successful” ejections from military aircraft at speeds in excess of 800 mph to give some good evidence that Fournier can pull this stunt off. Success definitely depends on him having an adequate protective pressure suit (like the ones used by SR-71 crew).
And if something goes wrong, guess who gets to PAY to pick up the pieces. Let him do it in France.
LOL Hans R.
Agreed this will be a test of human and technology endurance – for sure.
Makes you wonder why NASA hasn’t done same.
And Friend of USA at May 26, 2008 10:19 AM, watched that same documentary, couple of years ago, very interesting to put it mildly. That guy was not seeking publicity, he was pure scientific seeking hands-on results kind of person.
i hope he has a real high, no pun intended, before he expires.
j guy. lol. to the 10th power.
Wind shmind. If he was a Gurkha, he’d have jumped anyway.
8^)
Good luck to him. Last thing Saskatchewan needs is another pothole.
Good luck to him. Last thing Saskatchewan needs is another pothole.
“The lengths people will go for attention amazes. He’s gotta be right up there with Garth Turner in his need for attention.” Liz
Gee Liz, I for one would like to see Garth Turner jump out of a balloon at 40,000 meters. I’ll even pack his chute fer him too 😉
Not sure why he chose Saskatchewan, but France wouldn’t allow him to do the stunt there. I wonder what useful information he’s going to gather that can’t be calculated or simulated?
Hope he has sense enough to wear genuine Saskatchewan sealskin bindings.
dp “I wonder what useful information he’s going to gather that can’t be calculated or simulated?”
That’s why it done. That’s why they have wind tunnels, particle accelerators, cars being destroyed in testing (crash test dummies), drug tests, etc.
You don’t know what you don’t know … except for maybe the AGW crowd.
Watched it all on CNN.
It’s been done before……
Project Excelsior and Captain Joseph Kittinger USAF.
Why North Battleford Saskatchewan?
If he did it for any other reason than wind you have to wonder … the chances of landing in the bush are pretty good in that area.
Oh Boy.
Haven’t had a let down like that since Evel Knievel’s chute opened on take-off.
thought it was just another scam yesterday, and am not convinced otherwise this morning! balloon becomes detached! ??? yaaaaaaa, sure…
http://www.davinciproject.com/
he can go borrow a balloon from that flakey Brian Feeney. the launch lawn chair I bought about 5 years ago on his countdown still sits in the town hall.
Maybe Saskatchewan sealskin bindings aren’t made for attaching a capsule to a balloon. Oops.
North Battleford has a large airport that has little traffic. Former WWII training base. That and the relatively open airspace, low population, etc would make it a pretty good choice. Recall that a previous attempt was slated for Vanscoy, which is 8 miles up the road from here.