If all goes well, 64-year-old Frenchman Michel Fournier will shortly complete what he calls Le Grand Saut, the Super Jump, and thereby break several world aeronautical records.
Fournier is trying to make the highest ever parachute jump, from 40 kilometres above Canada, which would also requrie him to break the world altitude record for a balloon flight. During his descent, wearing a space suit, he will reach supersonic speeds of between 745 and 1,000 mph and be in free-fall for almost 6.5 minutes.
The sections of his balloon, made in Bristol, have had to be welded together as the normal glue would come apart in the extreme cold.
The existing altitude record for a parachute jump is held by Colonel Joe Kittinger of the US Air Force. In 1960 he jumped from 102,800 feet, more than 31,000 metres.
From our May 2008 e-newsletter
