Le Grand Saut

May 25th, 2008

French skydiver Michel Fournier plans to set no fewer than four world records today, weather permitting. He’s going to don a pressurized suit, climb into a balloon and float 25 miles into the sky — into space, really — and then jump out. He’ll break the sound barrier 40 seconds into his fall. He’ll need a small stabilizing parachute to prevent him from spinning uncontrollably. And if the protective system inside his suit fails, he could suffer a blood clot, a blackout, a horrible case of the bends, or worse.

If his fall is successful, he’ll hold the records for fastest free fall, longest free fall, highest altitude for a human balloon flight and highest parachute jump.

Ever since reading this Times article yesterday (and its accompanying awesome chart), I can’t get Fournier’s quest off my mind. He’s spent nearly $20 million to get to this point, and the weather for today doesn’t look very good. But “le grand saut,” or the Super Jump, is like so many world-record attempts, irresistible … and puzzling and dangerous. So why do it? Like Mount Everest, because it’s there.