Risk Case Study—Mishap Foils Latest Attempt at a 25-Mile Skydive Note: Details of this case excerpted from a New York Times May 28, 2008 article written by Matt Higgins.

Michel Fournier, a retired French Army officer who had hoped to fly a helium balloon about 25 miles above the Earth and parachute down, has failed again. As spectators watched, his 650-ft-high balloon inflated and then suddenly floated away, leaving the gondola with Fournier inside on the ground. The damaged balloon was recovered 25 miles away.

The launch team is investigating whether static electricity might have led to the setting off one of charges at the release point between the capsule and the balloon, the agency said.
Fournier had planned to climb into the pressurized gondola of the balloon and make a two-hour journey to 130,000 ft. Then he planned to step out of the capsule, wearing only a special spacesuit and a parachute, and plunge to Earth in a 15-min free fall. If successful, Fournier would fall longer, farther, and faster than anyone in history.
Fournier has spent 20 years and nearly $20 million in pursuit of the milestone. He sold his house and most of his belongings and solicited funds from sponsors to finance his project.
He has attempted the feat twice already, but technical and weather-related problems foiled the efforts before he left the ground. The most recent attempt, in 2003, failed when his balloon ruptured before takeoff.
If money was no object, outline what you would have done to bring this project in on time (note that the schedule had already been delayed by a previous problem with the balloon).