( CNN ) -- French parachutist Michel Fournier vowed Tuesday to try again to launch a record-breaking skydive in August , hours after a `` freak '' accident over Canada aborted his second attempt to do so . Michel Fournier tests his equipment a few days before his attempt to break four world records . `` I 'm not about to give up , '' the 64-year-old adventurer said of his shot at setting a world record for the highest jump and fastest , longest free fall by a man riding a balloon . Tuesday 's attempt was thwarted when an electrical charge broke the cable connecting the balloon to the gondola , causing it to slip away from his ground crew and rise into the Saskatchewan skies over North Battleford . `` The question is , why was it electrically activated ? '' said Michel Chevalet , a balloon expert working on Fournier 's technical team . He suggested that static electricity may have been to blame but that it had been an unforeseen possibility . `` Unexpected freak accidents do happen , '' he said . Watch report on Michel Fournier 's failed free-fall quest » . Fournier said the failure came as a blow . `` It was like having a hammer over the head , '' he said . Watch Fournier talk about trying again » . The former paratrooper had hoped his `` Big Jump '' would start 40 kilometers ( 25 miles ) above the Earth 's surface . But his hopes dissipated over the Canadian prairie shortly after 5 a.m. ( 7 a.m . ET ) , when the balloon took off before his capsule could be attached . Still clad in his bright yellow pressure suit , a visibly frustrated Fournier waved away cameras after his balloon 's abrupt departure . It drifted back to the ground about 40 km away . Fournier says he spent nearly 12.7 million euros ( $ 20 million ) on his quest , a risky endeavor that French authorities refused to allow him to attempt over France . Canadian authorities approved the mission over the town of North Battleford , in sparsely populated Saskatchewan . The town 's mayor , Julian Sadlowski , said Monday 's failure was `` a disappointment . '' `` I thought this was going to be the day that we saw history made in the Battlefords , '' he said . Balloon trouble also doomed Fournier 's effort to break the record in 2003 . Fournier holds the French record for the highest parachute jump at 12,000 meters ( 40,000 feet ) . He says his next chance is in August because that is when the jet stream will next be favorable . The `` Big Jump '' will collect data that will help astronauts and others survive at high altitudes , he says . Fournier estimated that Tuesday 's failed effort cost him and his sponsors about 600,000 euros ( $ 946,000 ) .
NEW : Parachutist Jean Tuesday promises to try to jump again . Tuesday escapes as French skydiver attempts free ##fall record . Tuesday 's attempt thwarted when an electrical charge broke important cable .