SASKATOON, Saskatchewan, May 13 (UPI) -- A 64-year-old Frenchman has arrived in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan to prepare for a 25-mile skydiving jump later this month.
Michel Fournier, a former French army colonel, wants to set four world records on May 25 after a similar attempt failed five years ago, the Regina Leader-Post reported Tuesday.
Fournier has raised $19 million for the mission, which involves traveling for 2 1/2 hours up to an altitude of 40 kilometers, or almost 25 miles, to the edge of the stratosphere in a pressurized capsule.
If all goes well, he will jump wearing a specially designed pressurized suit with oxygen tanks and fall for about 10 minutes before deploying his parachute, the report said.
The launch site is near North Battleford, about 85 miles northwest of Saskatoon.
If he achieves his goal, he will set records for highest altitude free fall, highest altitude human balloon flight, time record for longest free fall and the speed record for the fastest free fall, the newspaper said.
| Additional News Stories | |
ATLANTA, Nov. 10 (UPI) --
Comedian Katt Williams has been released on bail following his arrest on burglary and trespassing charges, an official at a Georgia jail confirmed.
|
WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 (UPI) --
John Allen Muhammad, the so-called D.C. Sniper, died by lethal injection at a Virginia prison at 9:11 p.m. Tuesday, a prison official said.
|
NEW YORK, Nov. 10 (UPI) --
Crude oil prices closed below $79 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, as a once threatening storm dissipated in the Gulf of Mexico.
|
|