Skydiver’s record attempt fails as balloon leaves without him

Sacre bleu! French jumper’s attempt meets with a SERIOUS setback…it’s almost funny how it happened.

A retired French paratrooper’s daring bid to skydive from the edge of space came to a farcical end when the balloon that was to take him almost 25 miles up drifted off without him.

Ooops!

After two decades of preparation and $20 million of investment, Michel Fournier, 64, could only look on helplessly as the helium balloon lifted off from North Battleford airport in the Canadian state of Saskatchewan, leaving him stranded on terra firma in his pressurised capsule.

It’s unstated whether there would be another attempt.