Michel Fournier
Michel Fournier (born May 4, 1944 in Treban , France ) is a French test pilot and parachutist .
Life
After a long career as a paratrooper in the French army, he was in 1986, after the Challenger selected disaster is for a test program of the French Government that the effect of parachute jumps to investigate high altitude on the human body, such as the rescue of astronauts from Space gliders . At the end of the 1980s, discussions began about ESA's withdrawal from the development of a European space glider ( Hermes , which took place in 1992), and the Fourniers test program was also discontinued by the French government.
Since then, Fournier has been running the program himself at his own expense, albeit with the support of well-known French space experts such as the former astronaut Jean-François Clervoy and the well-known science journalist Michel Chevalet . According to his own statements, he has already put more than 12.7 million euros into the project, which he financed from private sponsors and from his own assets.
The ascent with a helium balloon to approx. 40,000 m ( stratosphere ), the subsequent jump ( stratospheric jump ) in a pressure suit in free fall and the manual release of the parachute at a height of approx. 3000 m is planned. In an emergency (if the jumper loses consciousness) a parachute is deployed at a height of approx. 1000 m.
The aim of the “ Le Grand Saut ” (The Big Leap) project is to break several records at the same time:
- the height record of the free fall jump (previous record holder: Alan Eustace , October 24, 2014, 41,419 m)
- the height record of a manned balloon ascent (previous record holders: Malcolm D. Ross and Victor A. Prather Jr. , May 4, 1961, 34,668 m)
- the time record and distance record of the jump in free fall (previous record holder: Evgeny Andreev , November 1, 1962)
- the speed record of jumping in free fall ( Felix Baumgartner reached almost 1,360 km / h on October 14, 2012)
After two unsuccessful attempts in 2002 and 2003 and a break of more than 5 years, the third attempt to record failed on May 27, 2008. The ascent balloon made itself independent shortly before take-off when the release mechanism for the capsule ignited on the ground. The balloon disappeared into the sky without Fournier's capsule and was later found damaged about 40 km from the launch site. Fournier planned to make another attempt in August 2008. Because financing problems remain unresolved, it is currently unclear whether the company will ever take place.
Similar record attempts are or have been prepared by the British stuntman Steve Truglia and the Austrian base jumper Felix Baumgartner . Baumgartner carried out his experiment on October 14, 2012 as part of the Red Bull Stratos project and was able to break several records. On October 24, 2014, Alan Eustace was able to beat Baumgartner's records again.
See also
Web links
- Info, photos and link collection
- Chronicle of the events Course of the project with article references, videos and photos
swell
- ↑ "Michel Fournier vows to try, try again" ( Memento of the original dated May 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Edmonton Journal, May 27, 2008, Newspaper Article
- ↑ From the news area of Michel Fournier's blog ( Memento of the original from September 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on September 30, 2009)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Fournier, Michel |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French parachutist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 4, 1944 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Treban |