Michel Fournier (born 9 May 1944) is a French adventurer and retired Air Force colonel.

[1] According to the French version of his own biography, he (Michel Fournier) claims to have a total of more than 8,700 jumps in 2011, including a French record of height in freefall at 12,000 m.[2] However, his parachuting experience was disputed by Patrick de Gayardon[3] and the magazine Paramag.

[9] If successful, this would have broken records previously held by Joseph Kittinger, who set the previous parachute record by jumping from 31,333 metres (102,799 ft) in 1960 (with a small parachute for stability) under Project Excelsior; and Yevgeny Andreyev from the Soviet Union, who jumped from 24,483 metres (80,325 ft) in 1962, setting the longest free fall record.

After several delays due to weather, the attempt was made on 27 May 2008, but the balloon detached from its capsule as it was being inflated and floated away.

[10] Another attempt was made on 16 May 2010 which was unsuccessful due to the skydiver's reserve parachute deploying inside the capsule during a pre-launch test while the balloon was being filled.