French Air Force test pilot and one-time head of the European Space Agency's European Astronaut Centre. He flew to space as part of both the 1992 Soyuz TM-15 mission and the 1999 U.S. Space Shuttle Columbia STS-93 mission.
He attended both the French Air Force Academy and the English Empire Test Pilots' School.
He spent over eighteen days in space.
He was born and raised in Vincennes, France.
He and Leopold Eyharts were both French-born astronauts and test pilots.
