Patrick Baudry

Patrick Baudry, born in 1946, Cameroonian-born French astronaut. Baudry was one of the first spationautes (French for astronaut) selected and trained by the Centre National des Études Spatiales (CNES), the French national space agency. He was the second French national to reach space. Although France has no manned spacecraft of its own, its citizens have flown into space several times on United States and Soviet spacecraft, and France plays a pivotal role in the multinational European Space Agency (ESA).

Baudry was born in Douala, Cameroon, and graduated from the École de l'Air de Salon-de-Provence (the French Air Force Academy) in 1969 with an M.S. degree in aeronautical engineering. He completed flight training in 1970, earning his wings and a fighter pilot's certificate, then completed many operational missions in former French colonies in Africa. He entered the Empire Test Pilot School in England in 1978, then was assigned to the Flight Test Center in Brétigny-sur-Orge, France, in 1979. Baudry was selected by the CNES as a spationaute in 1980. He trained first at the CNES, then lived at Star City near Moscow as he trained to fly on a Soviet Soyuz T spacecraft as backup to his colleague Jean-Loup Chrétien, who was prime crew member. On June 24, 1982, Chrétien flew to the Salyut 7 space station aboard Soyuz T-6. After the flight, Baudry became next in line when a spaceflight opportunity arose.

In 1984 he trained to fly on the U.S. space shuttle as a payload specialist (an astronaut whose role on the shuttle revolves around a specific cargo, or payload), with Chrétien serving as his backup. Baudry flew into space aboard Discovery from June 17 to 24, 1985, on a mission duing which he carried out French cardiovascular (see Circulatory System) monitoring system experiments begun by Chrétien aboard Salyut 7. He also conducted equilibrium and vertigo measurements. For the tests, U.S. astronaut Shannon Lucid and Saudi astronaut Prince Sultan ibn Salman ibn Abdul Aziz al-saud served as experimental subjects. Baudry's total time in space was more than 169 hours.

After his single flight, Baudry returned to France in 1986, becoming chief test pilot of the Hermes program, an effort to built a European space shuttle that was eventually canceled. Baudry is now director of French astronauts at the CNES.