Leopold Eyharts
From The Space Library
| Image:Eyharts.jpg Leopold Eyharts | |
| Birth Name | Leopold Eyharts |
|---|---|
| Birth Date | Apr 28 1957 |
| Occupation | Astronaut, European Space Agency, (General, French Air Force) |
Contents |
Personal Data
Born April 28, 1957, in Biarritz, France. He is married and has one child His hobbies are reading, computers and sport.
Education
Graduated as an engineer from the French Air Force Academy of Salon-de-Provence in 1979.
Experience
He joined the French Air Force Academy of Salon-de-Provence in 1977 and was graduated as an aeronautical engineer in 1979. In 1980, he became a fighter pilot and was assigned to an operational Jaguar squadron in Istres Air Force Base (France). In 1985, he was assigned as a wing commander in Saint-Dizier Air Force base. In 1988, he was graduated as a test pilot in the French test pilot school (EPNER) and was assigned to Bretigny flight test center near Paris. He then flew on different types of military and civilian aircraft including Mirage 2000, Alpha-jet, Mirage 3, Caravelle, C-160 mainly involved in radar and equipment testing. He has logged 3500 flight hours as a fighter and test pilot in 40 different aircraft types, 21 parachute jumps including one ejection.
Spaceflight Experience
NASA/ESA EXPERIENCE: In August 1998, Leopold Eyharts was assigned by the European Space Agency to train as a mission specialist at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. As part of the international astronauts of the 1998 class, he attended Astronaut Candidate Training which included orientation briefings and tours, numerous scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in Shuttle and International Space Station systems, physiological training and ground school to prepare for T-38 flight training, as well as learning water and wilderness survival techniques. He was initially assigned to the Astronaut Office Space Station Operations Branch. Leopold Eyhart's assignments include serving as a flight engineer to the Expedition-12 and Expedition-13 back-up crews. A veteran of two space flights, Mir in 1998 and Expedition 16 in 2008, Eyharts has logged a total of 68 days, 23 hours, and 14 minutes in space. SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: Leopold Eyhart's was the prime cosmonaut for the CNES scientific space mission called "Pegase." He flew in the Mir Space Station in February 1998. During the three week Pegase mission he performed various French experiments in the area of medical research, neuroscience, biology, fluid physics and technology. Mission duration was 20 days, 18 hours and 20 minutes in space. Leopold Eyhart's next spent over 6 weeks living and working aboard the International Space Station. He launched on February 7, 2008 with the crew of STS-122, arriving at the International Space Station on February 9, delivering ESA's Columbus Laboratory to the station. Eyharts participated in the installation and activation of the Columbus Laboratory. During his stay aboard the ISS Eyharts also participated in several on-going science experiments. He also initiated two new experiments studying plant growth and testing connections between the brain, visualization and motion in microgravity. Eyharts returned to Earth with the crew of STS-123 in a night landing at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida on March 26, 2008. Mission duration was 48 days, 4 hours and 54 minutes in space. In 1990, Leopold Eyharts was selected as an astronaut by CNES (Center National d'Etudes Spatiales) and assigned to support the Hermes spaceplane program managed by the Hermes Crew office in Toulouse. He became also one of the test pilots in charge of the CNES parabolic flights program, an experimental aircraft (Caravelle) managed by Bretigny Flight Test Center to provide a microgravity laboratory to the scientific community. In 1994, he was in charge of parabolic flight testing of the Caravelle replacement, an Airbus A300 which became operational in 1995. In 1992, Leopold Eyharts participated in the second European Space Agency astronaut selection. At the end of the same year, he took part in an ESA evaluation of Russian "Bouran" Space Shuttle training in Moscow, where he flew in the Tupolev 154 Bouran in-flight simulator. He also participated in two additional short-duration spaceflight training courses in Star City, Moscow--6-weeks in 1991 and 2-weeks in 1993. Leopold Eyharts was assigned to full spaceflight training in January 1995. He trained as a back-up cosmonaut for the Cassiopeia French-Russian space mission, which took place in August 1996. STS-110 Atlantis (April 8-19, 2002) was the 13th Shuttle mission to visit the ISS. This, the first mission in the final phase of the ISS assembly, included the delivery and installation of the S0 (S-Zero) Truss, the first use of the station's robotic arm to maneuver spacewalkers around the station and the first time that all of the spacewalks performed on a Shuttle mission were based from the Station's Quest Airlock. Ross performed two EVAs totaling 14 hours and 9 minutes. Mission duration was 259 hours and 42 minutes, with 171 orbits of the Earth.
Special Honours
Leopold Eyharts has been decorated with the French Legion d'Honneur, the Ordre National du Merite and Medaille d'Outre Mer, and the Russian medals of Friendship and Courage.
Other Information
Jan-12
