French Astronaut to Visit International Space Station
Astronaut Philippe Perrin of CNES (Centre National
D’Etudes Spatiales, the French Space Agency), a lieutenant
colonel in the French Air Force, has been named to the crew
for the STS-111/Utilization Flight-2, scheduled for launch
early in 2002. The STS-111 mission will carry experiment and
resupply equipment in the Multipurpose Logistics Module to
the International Space Station and install final hardware
for the Canadian Mobile Servicing System.
Perrin is the first to be named to this crew; other
crewmembers will be assigned at a later date. This will be
Perrin’s first flight into space.
After selection by the French Space Agency, Perrin reported
to NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, for astronaut
training in 1996. Prior to becoming an astronaut, his
military career included service as a high-performance jet-
aircraft test pilot in the French Air Force, where he flew
the Mirage F1 and was the Chief Pilot Deputy in charge of the
development of the Mirage 2000-5. He has logged over 2,500
flying hours in over 30 different aircraft. Perrin received
an engineering degree from Ecole Polytechnique in Paris in
1985.
A complete list of all astronauts and their biographical
information can be found on the Internet at:
