Could Break Highest, Longest... AND Fastest Freefall Records

Saskatchewan may be host to history on Monday as former French army colonel Michel Fournier, 64, attempts to break three skydiving records at once in an ambitious jump from a mind-boggling 132,200 feet.

The London Daily Telegraph reports Fournier will lift off from North Battleford, Saskatchewan nearly 400 miles East of Edmonton, Alberta at 0400 local time, weather permitting, on Monday, May 25.

As reported by ANN last August, Fournier planned to accomplish a "le Grand Saut" or "Super Jump" in 2007, but had to wait for nearly a year before attempting the feat.

In preparation, Fournier will spend hours before his attempt inhaling pure oxygen to dispel any traces of nitrogen from his blood to prevent a condition known as "the bends" from the rarefied air of the upper stratosphere.

For nearly two-and-a-half hours Fournier will ascend in a pressurized capsule suspended from a helium balloon to reach his target altitude almost 25 miles above the earth. From the edge of space he will depart the capsule wearing a custom carbon fiber suit that cost nearly $70,000 that will protect him from the -148 degree F temperatures at altitude, as well as the extremely high temperatures caused by air resistance during the 10-minute high-speed free fall.

Expecting to reach a speed of over 1000 mph, Fournier will also wear a reinforced helmet that will protect his ears from the shockwave caused by breaking the sound barrier. If successful, he will break records for not only the highest altitude free fall, longest free fall, and fastest free fall, but also the highest altitude balloon flight as well. 

The current high altitude free fall record was set in 1962 when Roger Eugene Andreyev jumped from 80,324 feet. In 1960, US Air Force Captain Joseph Kittinger jumped from an altitude of 102,800 feet, but was stabilized with a small parachute during the descent, thus not a true free fall.

The record altitude for a balloon was set at 121,400 feet by Nick Piantanida of the US in 1966.

The records for the longest and fastest free fall are without precedent according to Fournier's website.

Fournier is a veteran of more than 8,500 parachute jumps and took part in a rigorous training program of running, weight lifting and yoga to help him prepare for this attempt.

This is not the adventurer's first attempt at these records. Fournier has tried in one form or another for the past two decades.

In the 1980s, he was one of three candidates chosen to take part in an endurance test for the military to ascertain if a parachutist could safely descend from 125,000 feet. The testing was abandoned in 1988, but Fournier was hooked and has continued on his own, financing his dream through profits made from selling antique furniture, his gun collection and even his own home.

He came close in 2003... but his balloon burst shortly before liftoff.

FMI: www.legrandsaut.org