Skydiver Plans Head-First Freefall From The Edge of Space

From the Daily Mail:

Skydiver plans head-first freefall from the edge of space in dizzying bid to break Mach 1

By IAN SPARKS

He will leap head-first from a weather balloon 25 miles above Earth and plummet at more than 1,000mph with only a parachute for company.

He will face external temperatures of minus 100c while inside his carbon-fibre suit it will be a stifling 65c - almost 150 fahrenheit.

And most amazing of all, Michel Fournier is actually looking forward to it.

The daredevil Frenchman, a greyhaired 63-year-old former paratrooper, aims to become the first person to break the sound barrier in free-fall.

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zoh my goodness. *shudder* Skydiving from ~normal altitudes would paralyze me. I can't imagine he'd live after something like that? [though according to the article he should]

His parachute will not open until six minutes, 25 seconds after jumping and he will finally reach the Earth after around eight and a half minutes.

eep! Though as terrified as I'd be, it would be pretty darn cool.

Why...? Just... why?

He's gonna die. I'm calling it.

-Kylan

Beyond awesome. Props to him.

Prokaryote

*cough*moron*cough*

KazSmurf wrote:Why...? Just... why?

He's French. Is anything they do ever lucid? @_@

You have to respect him for trying it out though. I guess if you like that type of thing and do it for a living then this could just about be the 'height' of his daredevil/stuntman career and hopefully not the end.