Balloon Takes To The Air Tuesday Without Adventurer AttachedNorth Battleford, Saskatchewan (eCanadaNow) - The latest attempt for French Adventurer Michel Fournier to conquer the world record in highest skydive was scrapped early Tuesday as the balloon that he was scheduled to ride a lot in rose without him.
At a crisp 5:06am local time, the massive three layer helium balloon rose swiftly into the sky over the prairie where the attempted had been scheduled to take place.
The initial response of cheering turned to groans when the public and press gathered realized that the balloon was rising solo, without the gondola capsule that would have carried Fournier to nearly 40,000 metres in a little over two hours.
Fournier had been breathing oxygen for over two hours to begin his preparations, having been on oxygen since 2:30am. Breathing oxygen in preparation helps prevent against nitrogen bubbles in the blood at low pressures.
The helium balloon had begun to be filled normally, and was rising as expected for a short time. After an initial period, the balloon inverted and began to behave erratically. After a short time the balloon suddenly broke loose and tore into the sky: alone.
The reason for the mission failure was not released, but will be covered in a press conference this afternoon near the launch point.
