NORTH BATTLEFORD,
Saskatchewan (AP) - Michel Fournier began final preparations for a stunt that
will, should all go well, end in the pre-dawn darkness Monday with him rising
slowly in a helium-powered balloon pod up to the very void of space - and then
stepping off.
The 64-year-old French
skydiver aims to free fall 40,000 meters (130,000 feet) from the stratosphere
in a specially designed suit, helmet and parachute to advance the cause of
science and, in the process, break four free fall records.
"The jump, based on weather
conditions, is planned for Monday 4 a.m. local time,'' Francine
Lecompte-Gittins, spokesperson for the jump, said in an e-mail Saturday.
She is one of almost an
army of technicians, data crunchers, balloon and weather specialists who have
arrived at this city of 14,000 near the Saskatchewan-Alberta boundary for
Fournier's third attempt.
The first two - in 2002 and
2003 - ended when wind gusts shredded his balloon
before it even became airborne.
This time, the balloon is
three layers thick and the plan is to go up before the sun comes up Monday -
when the skies are expected to be clear and, hopefully, without a breath of
wind.
Fournier, a former
army paratrooper with more than 8,000 jumps under his belt, hopes to bring
back data that will help astronauts and others survive in the highest of
altitudes. He wants to also break the record for the fastest and longest free
fall, the highest parachute jump and the highest balloon flight.
He will be three-times
higher than a commercial jetliner. A mountain climber would have to ascend the
equivalent of four Mount Everests stacked one on top of the other.
It is expected to take him
15 minutes just to come down, screaming through thin air at 1,500 kilometers an
hour (932 miles an hour), - 1.7 times the speed of sound - smashing through the
sound barrier, shock waves buffeting his body, before finally deploying his
chute about 6,000 meters (yards) above the prairie wheat fields.
When he does, if he does,
the man whose record he is trying to eclipse will be sitting at his home in
Altamonte Springs, Florida, near Orlando, waiting for news.
Joe
Kittinger set the record almost 50 years ago, in 1960. As a U.S. Air Force
captain, he leapt from a balloon at 31,000 meters (101,700 feet), about
three-quarters of the height Fournier is now shooting for - as a research
experiment for the space program.
The 79-year-old Kittinger,
now retired but working as a writer and consultant while still flying balloons
and planes, said Fournier keeps in touch by e-mail.
"What I told him from the
very beginning was that it's a very hostile environment needing elaborate
protection and equipment and a good team,'' said Kittinger in an interview from
his home.
"If the pressure suit
fails, you die very quickly. It's not simply just making a skydive.''
Fournier has made the jump
his life's work at a cost of nearly US$20 million.
He got started after the Space
Shuttle Challenger exploded in
1986 - with some of the astronauts surviving in high altitudes only to die
at splashdown.
The French government
decided to experiment with ejections at super-high altitudes. Fournier was
chosen to do the jumping, but when the project was canceled soon after, he
decided to continue his research privately.
He had planned to make the
jump in his native France, but the government denied him permission, dubbing
the project too dangerous.
He then came to North
Battleford, an agriculture and transportation hub northwest of Saskatoon. The
surrounding area has few lakes and lots of open land to go with an underused
airport that serves as the perfect launch point.
"It's exciting,'' said
Julian Sadlowski, the mayor of North Battleford, who made Fournier an honorary
citizen this week.
"Saskatchewan is going to
be recognized as the spot where they had the jump from the highest height by
man.''
Sadlowski said he's known
Fournier for a year and said the man has the fire to succeed, even at great
personal risk.
"He reminds me of a young
boy who crawls up a tree and has to go right to the end,'' said Sadlowski.
"He's so passionate about
this jump.''
Sadlowski said he'll be out
at the airport Monday for the launch.
By the zero hour, Fournier
will already have been breathing pure oxygen for two hours to help his body
adapt.
The balloon will then rise,
taking more than two hours to reach its apex before he steps out to pierce the
sky in temperatures plunging to minus 65 Celsius (minus 85 Fahrenheit) and in
pressures that, without a special suit, would quickly bring his blood to a
boil.
He'll be tracked with
global positioning units, radar, a helicopter and a Learjet. He expects to land
within a 40-kilometers radius south of North Battleford. If he lands
unconscious, his team will have 15 minutes to get to him before his air runs
out.
Kittinger says should he
reach the peak altitude, he'll be humbled by a panorama as spectacular as it is
deadly.
"It's beautiful,'' he said.
"But it's very hostile.''
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