Astronaut Jean-Jacques Favier, the sixth Frenchman to go into space during a flight aboard the US space shuttle Columbia, has died at the age of 73, the National Center for Space Exploration (CNES) announced on Friday, March 24, 2023.
Born in Kehl, Germany on April 13, 1949, Jean-Jacques Favier joined the National School of Electrochemistry and Electrometallurgy in Grenoble in 1971. He earned a doctorate in engineering and a doctorate in physics and metallurgy from the Ecole des mines de Paris. from Joseph-Fourier-Grenoble 1 University in 1977.
He was elected in 1985 “Test Astronaut” by the French Space Agency when he was a research engineer at the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA).
Within CNES, he became the science manager of the Mephisto space oven, which flew several times aboard the space shuttle Columbia. In 1995, he was assigned as a special astronaut for an experiment in the Spacelab laboratory carried by the US spaceship.
“Exemplary Study”
From June 20 to July 7, 1996, he spent sixteen days, twenty-one hours and forty-eight minutes in orbit. This was fourteen years after Jean-Loup Chrétien, the first Frenchman to go into space aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
Jean-Jacques Favier thus becomes “The First French Scientist in Space”Mentions CNES, which pays tribute to it “Exemplary Life”. “He will leave his mark on future generations and inspire many of us.”Adds Philippe Baptiste, CEO of CNES contacted.
During his career, Jean-Jacques Favier was responsible for more than thirty physics experiments in microgravity.
After his career as an astronaut, he was involved in education and research, notably working on the CNES project to prepare a future lunar or Mars base.
