What Is It About Space That Makes People Do Crazy Things?
from the Darwin-awards-anyone? dept
It’s amazing the number of idiotic things people will do to get into space. Earlier this year we talked about people trying to launch themselves into space in various (possibly fatal) ways. Now, two guys from the UK plan on riding a balloon up to the edge of space. At least it sounds like they have people who know what they’re talking about helping out – but overall, it still sounds like a terrible plan. They have a huge balloon, and will float up 25 miles and hope that nothing goes wrong. Not only do they have to worry about the balloon breaking or their life support systems failing, they’ll also have to dodge “space debris”. Even the landing sounds tricky. They’re trying to break a 40-year-old record for the highest balloon flight. Of course, on that flight, the balloonists survived, but one of them drowned on landing when his suit flooded. How awful is that? You make a record high balloon flight safely, and then have problems when you’re back on the ground (or, well, in the sea).
