Léopold Eyharts
Encyclopedia
Léopold Eyharts is a Brigadier General
in the French Air Force
and an ESA astronaut
.
, Pyrénées-Atlantiques
, France
. He graduated as an engineer
from the French Air Force Academy of Salon-de-Provence
in 1979.
and was assigned to an operational Jaguar
squadron in Istres Air Base
(France
). In 1985, he was assigned as a wing commander
in Saint-Dizier
Air Force base.
In 1988, he was graduated as a test pilot
in the French test pilot school (EPNER) and was assigned to Bretigny
flight test center near Paris
. He then flew on different types of military and civilian aircraft including Mirage 2000, Alpha Jet
, Mirage 3
, Caravelle
, C-160
mainly involved in radar
and equipment testing.
He has logged 3500 flight hours as a fighter and test pilot in 40 different aircraft types, 21 parachute
jumps including one ejection
.
(Centre National d’Études Spatiales) and assigned to support the Hermes spaceplane
program managed by the Hermes Crew office in Toulouse
.
He became one of the test pilots in charge of the CNES parabolic flights program, an experimental aircraft (Caravelle) managed by Bretigny Flight Test Center to provide a microgravity laboratory to the scientific community.
In 1992, Eyharts participated in the second European Space Agency
astronaut selection. At the end of the same year, he took part in an ESA evaluation of the Russian “Buran” Space Shuttle
training in Moscow
, where he flew in the Tupolev 154 Buran in-flight simulator.
He also participated in two additional short-duration spaceflight training courses in Star City, Moscow — six weeks in 1991 and two weeks in 1993.
In 1994, he was in charge of parabolic flight testing of the Caravelle replacement, an Airbus A300
which become operational in 1995.
Eyharts was assigned to full spaceflight training in January 1995. He trained as a back-up crew member for the "Cassiopeia" French-Russian space mission, which took place in August 1996.
His first spaceflight came as part of the follow-on CNES scientific space mission named “Pégase.” He flew to the Mir Space Station
in February 1998 aboard Soyuz TM-27
. During the three week Pégase mission, he performed various French experiments in the area of medical research, neuroscience
, biology
, fluid
physics
and technology
. During his first space mission, he logged 20 days, 18 hours and 20 minutes in space.
In August 1998, Eyharts was assigned by the European Space Agency to train at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas
. As part of the international astronauts of the 1998 class, he attended NASA Astronaut Candidate Training which included orientation briefings and tours, numerous scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in Shuttle and International Space Station
systems, physiological training and ground school to prepare for T-38
flight training, as well as learning water
and wilderness
survival techniques. He served in technical assignments until assigned to a space flight.
He launched on board Space Shuttle mission STS-122
to the International Space Station on February 7, 2008, where he joined Expedition 16
. He participated in the installation and configuration of the Columbus
European laboratory module. He returned to Earth aboard mission STS-123
in March 2008.
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...
in the French Air Force
French Air Force
The French Air Force , literally Army of the Air) is the air force of the French Armed Forces. It was formed in 1909 as the Service Aéronautique, a service arm of the French Army, then was made an independent military arm in 1933...
and an ESA astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
.
Background
Eyharts was born April 28, 1957, in BiarritzBiarritz
Biarritz is a city which lies on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast, in south-western France. It is a luxurious seaside town and is popular with tourists and surfers....
, Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Pyrénées-Atlantiques is a department in the southwest of France which takes its name from the Pyrenees mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.- History :...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. He graduated as an engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
from the French Air Force Academy of Salon-de-Provence
Salon-de-Provence
Salon-de-Provence is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in southern France. It is the location of an important air base.-History:Salon was a Gallo-Roman oppidum well positioned on the salt trade routes between Adriatic, Atlantic and Mediterranean seas, hence its name...
in 1979.
Awards and honors
- Chevalier of the Légion d'honneurLégion d'honneurThe Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
- Chevalier of the Ordre National du MériteOrdre National du MériteThe Ordre national du Mérite is an Order of State awarded by the President of the French Republic. It was founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle...
- Médaille d’Outre-Mer
- Silver National Defence MedalMédaille de la Défense nationaleThe Médaille de la Défense nationale is a French military decoration. It was created by Charles Hernu, Minister of Defense and established by the decree of April 21, 1982. It rewards particularly honorable service rendered to the military for their participation in operational activities...
- Commander of the Order of CourageOrder of CourageThe Order of Courage is a decoration presented by the government of the Russian Federation. Established in 1994, the order is presented for "acts of courage or self-sacrifice."- External links :* *...
(Russia) - Commander of the Order of FriendshipOrder of FriendshipThe Order of Friendship is a state decoration of Russia established by decree # 442 of March 2, 1994 of the President of the Russian Federation....
(Russia) - The medal "For merits in development of space" (April 12, 2011) - for outstanding contribution to the development of international cooperation in manned space flight
Military career
He joined the French Air Force Academy of Salon-de-Provence in 1977 and was graduated as an aeronautical engineer in 1979. In 1980, he became a fighter pilotFighter pilot
A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained in air-to-air combat while piloting a fighter aircraft . Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and dogfighting...
and was assigned to an operational Jaguar
SEPECAT Jaguar
The SEPECAT Jaguar is an Anglo-French jet ground attack aircraft, originally used by the British Royal Air Force and the French Armée de l'Air in the close air support and nuclear strike role, and still in service with several export customers, notably the Indian Air Force and the Royal Air Force...
squadron in Istres Air Base
Istres Air Base
Istres-Le Tubé Air Base is a large multi-role tasked French Air Force base located near Istres, northwest of Marseille, France. The airport facilities are also known as Istres - Le Tubé .- Armée de l'air :...
(France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
). In 1985, he was assigned as a wing commander
Wing Commander (rank)
Wing commander is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries...
in Saint-Dizier
Saint-Dizier
Saint-Dizier is a commune in the Haute-Marne department in north-eastern France.It has a population of 31,000 and is a subprefecture of the department...
Air Force base.
In 1988, he was graduated as a test pilot
Test pilot
A test pilot is an aviator who flies new and modified aircraft in specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques or FTTs, allowing the results to be measured and the design to be evaluated....
in the French test pilot school (EPNER) and was assigned to Bretigny
Brétigny
Brétigny or Bretigny may refer to the following places:*in France:**Bretigny, Côte-d'Or, in the Côte-d'Or département**Brétigny, Eure, in the Eure département**Brétigny, Oise, in the Oise département...
flight test center near Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. He then flew on different types of military and civilian aircraft including Mirage 2000, Alpha Jet
Dassault-Breguet/Dornier Alpha Jet
The Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet is a light attack jet and advanced trainer aircraft co-manufactured by Dornier of Germany and Dassault-Breguet of France.- Origins :...
, Mirage 3
Dassault Mirage III
The Mirage III is a supersonic fighter aircraft designed by Dassault Aviation during the late 1950s, and manufactured both in France and a number of other countries. It was a successful fighter aircraft, being sold to many air forces around the world and remaining in production for over a decade...
, Caravelle
Caravelle
Caravelle may be a reference to:* Caravelle, the French marketing name for the typeface Folio* Sud Aviation Caravelle, the short/medium-range jet airliner, produced by Sud Aviation...
, C-160
Transall C-160
|-See also:-References:* Taylor, John W. R. Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1982-83. London:Jane's Yearbooks, 1982. ISBN 0-7106-0748-2.-External links:*...
mainly involved in radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
and equipment testing.
He has logged 3500 flight hours as a fighter and test pilot in 40 different aircraft types, 21 parachute
Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
jumps including one ejection
Ejector seat
In aircraft, an ejection seat is a system designed to rescue the pilot or other crew of an aircraft in an emergency. In most designs, the seat is propelled out of the aircraft by an explosive charge or rocket motor, carrying the pilot with it. The concept of an eject-able escape capsule has also...
.
CNES and ESA career
In 1990, Léopold Eyharts was selected as an astronaut candidate by CNESCNES
The is the French government space agency . Established under President Charles de Gaulle in 1961, its headquarters are located in central Paris and it is under the supervision of the French Ministries of Defence and Research...
(Centre National d’Études Spatiales) and assigned to support the Hermes spaceplane
Hermes (shuttle)
Hermes was a proposed spaceplane designed by the French Centre National d'Études Spatiales in 1975, and later by the European Space Agency. It was superficially similar to the US X-20. France proposed in January 1985 to go through with Hermes development under the auspices of the ESA. Hermes was...
program managed by the Hermes Crew office in Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
.
He became one of the test pilots in charge of the CNES parabolic flights program, an experimental aircraft (Caravelle) managed by Bretigny Flight Test Center to provide a microgravity laboratory to the scientific community.
In 1992, Eyharts participated in the second European Space Agency
European Space Agency
The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...
astronaut selection. At the end of the same year, he took part in an ESA evaluation of the Russian “Buran” Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
training in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, where he flew in the Tupolev 154 Buran in-flight simulator.
He also participated in two additional short-duration spaceflight training courses in Star City, Moscow — six weeks in 1991 and two weeks in 1993.
In 1994, he was in charge of parabolic flight testing of the Caravelle replacement, an Airbus A300
Airbus A300
The Airbus A300 is a short- to medium-range widebody jet airliner. Launched in 1972 as the world's first twin-engined widebody, it was the first product of Airbus Industrie, a consortium of European aerospace companies, wholly owned today by EADS...
which become operational in 1995.
Eyharts was assigned to full spaceflight training in January 1995. He trained as a back-up crew member for the "Cassiopeia" French-Russian space mission, which took place in August 1996.
His first spaceflight came as part of the follow-on CNES scientific space mission named “Pégase.” He flew to the Mir Space Station
Mir
Mir was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, at first by the Soviet Union and then by Russia. Assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996, Mir was the first modular space station and had a greater mass than that of any previous spacecraft, holding the record for the...
in February 1998 aboard Soyuz TM-27
Soyuz TM-27
-Mission accomplishments:*Docked with Mir*Exchange part of crew*Carried out French mission PEGASE*Conducted routine science experiments-EVA schedule:*03.03.1998 aborted due to faulty hatch*01.04.1998 *06.04.1998 *11.04.1998...
. During the three week Pégase mission, he performed various French experiments in the area of medical research, neuroscience
Neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...
, biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
, fluid
Fluid
In physics, a fluid is a substance that continually deforms under an applied shear stress. Fluids are a subset of the phases of matter and include liquids, gases, plasmas and, to some extent, plastic solids....
physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
. During his first space mission, he logged 20 days, 18 hours and 20 minutes in space.
In August 1998, Eyharts was assigned by the European Space Agency to train at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
. As part of the international astronauts of the 1998 class, he attended NASA Astronaut Candidate Training which included orientation briefings and tours, numerous scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in Shuttle and International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
systems, physiological training and ground school to prepare for T-38
T-38 Talon
The Northrop T-38 Talon is a twin-engine supersonic jet trainer. It was the world's first supersonic trainer and is also the most produced. The T-38 remains in service as of 2011 in air forces throughout the world....
flight training, as well as learning water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
and wilderness
Wilderness
Wilderness or wildland is a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. It may also be defined as: "The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet—those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with...
survival techniques. He served in technical assignments until assigned to a space flight.
He launched on board Space Shuttle mission STS-122
STS-122
STS-122 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station , flown by the Space Shuttle Atlantis. STS-122 marked the 24th shuttle mission to the ISS, and the 121st space shuttle flight since STS-1....
to the International Space Station on February 7, 2008, where he joined Expedition 16
Expedition 16
Expedition 16 was the 16th expedition to the International Space Station .The first two crew members, Yuri Malenchenko and Peggy Whitson, launched on 10 October 2007, aboard Soyuz TMA-11, and were joined by spaceflight participant Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, the first Malaysian in space.Expedition 15...
. He participated in the installation and configuration of the Columbus
Columbus (ISS module)
Columbus is a science laboratory that is part of the International Space Station and is the largest single contribution to the ISS made by the European Space Agency ....
European laboratory module. He returned to Earth aboard mission STS-123
STS-123
-Mission parameters:* Mass:* Orbiter liftoff: * Orbiter landing: * Perigee: 336 kilometers * Apogee: 346 kilometers * Inclination: 51.6 degrees* Period: 91.6min-Mission payloads:...
in March 2008.