Help others find this story. Push the up arrow! Thanks
Listen To This Article
Skydiver to break sound barrier
A parachutist hopes to become the first man to break the sound barrier by jumping from a balloon 25 miles high.
Michel Fournier, 63, a retired Army officer, will plunge at up to 1,000mph, breaking the record for the highest balloon jump into the bargain.
He will defy temperatures of -100C, solar radiation and oxygen deprivation, reports the Daily Mirror.
A modified space suit will protect him from the sonic boom.
He said: "It really is a leap into the unknown. Nobody knows much about the effect on the human body of passing the sound barrier."
Fournier, a former para who served in Algeria, was one of three candidates who took part in a French Army plan to jump 125,000 feet in the 80s.
A French athlete is planning to break the speed of sound while free-falling from a hot air balloon.
Michel Fournier, 57, specialised in very high altitude jumps and falls when he was in the French army.
He will make his world record attempt from a specially-designed stratospheric balloon made by Cameron Balloons in Bristol.
The 95-metre-high helium-filled balloon will carry Mr Fournier so high he will need to wear a space suit to enable him to breathe.
Balloon casket
The casket will be pulled above 40,000 feet
It will take him up to three hours to reach a height of more than 40,000 feet (12,192 metres).
Hannah Cameron told BBC News Online: "Before he opens his parachute he will be the first man to break the speed barrier without using an aeroplane.
"We are building the balloon now, using a model section, and the attempt will be sometime between May and September."
The balloon will carry Mr Fournier up in a telephone-box shaped casket which will protect him from the ultra-violet light.
Once he has admired the view, he plans to cross the sound barrier just 30 seconds after leaving his casket.
His pressurised suit can withstand temperatures of -100 C, but he will have to inhale pure oxygen for four hours before he actually jumps.
Mr Fournier said: "I love life and life pays me back well.
"I love discovering and experimenting.
"I believe in my lucky star and in the virtues of courage and self-implication."
The site of the launch is yet to be announced, but if all goes to plan, the casket will fall to earth on another parachute before making a landing of its own.
Click an image to see a larger (less distored) version!
Spoken Articles How To
All Our Stuff Feed
