Jun 12, 2020
40 years ago 12 June 1980.. first French spationautes! In September 1979, Soviet-Russia allowed France to fly a French cosmonaut "spationaute" onboard their Salyut-7 space station. CNES received 413 applications, which were screened down to 72 and checked out as 4 final candidates. In June 1980,Armée de L’Air - French Air Force Pilots LtColonel Jean-Loup Chrétien and Major Patrick Baudry were announced as the first spationautes. Chrétien went on to fly on 3 spaceflight missions and Baudry on 1 space shuttle mission in 1985. During training, astronaut Patrick Baudry wore a series of watches and here he was probably wearing a Breitling, Bréguet or Auricoste Type 20 chronograph ... (Photo: CNES)
