Thursday, June 05, 2008

Money can't buy you brains

Last week, Michel Fournier tried to set a world record for the highest and fastest free-fall. The plan was to float 25 miles high in a special balloon and jump. According to news reports, he spent two decades and $20M of his own money to make this happen.

Then, when the balloon was filling with helium, it took off by itself because it wasn't properly attached to the capsule.

I don't know anything about ballooning (I'm afraid of heights), but you would think "Attach balloon to capsule" would be near the top of the pre-flight checklist.

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