Francis French (born 1970) is a book and magazine author from

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England, specialising in space flight history. He is a former director of events for Sally Ride Science, and a director at the

San Diego Air & Space Museum San Diego Air & Space Museum (SDASM, formerly the San Diego Aerospace Museum) is an aviation and space exploration museum in San Diego, California, United States. The museum is located in Balboa Park and is housed in the former Ford Building, ...

. French's space history books have been reviewed by the Smithsonian's ''

Air & Space ''Air & Space/Smithsonian'' is a quarterly magazine published by the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Linc ...

'' Magazine, ''

The San Diego Union-Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

'',

Jeff Foust Jeff Foust is an aerospace analyst, journalist and publisher. A senior aerospace analyst with the Futron Corporation in Bethesda, Maryland, he is the editor and publisher of ''The Space Review'' and has written for ''Astronomy Now'' and '' The New ...

of ''

The Space Review ''The Space Review'' is a free online publication, published weekly with in-depth articles, essays, commentary and reviews on space exploration and development. It was founded in February 2003 by Jeff Foust, the current editor, publisher and regu ...

'', ''Student Life'' newspaper,

Popmatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

, Quest: The History of Spaceflight,

Blogcritics Blogcritics is a blog network and online magazine of news and opinion. The site was founded in 2002 by Eric Olsen and Phillip Winn. Blogcritics features more than 100 original articles every week, and maintains an archive of all its published con ...

, ''Space Times'', ''

Oxford Journals Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

'', ''Air Power History'', ''

Technology and Culture ''Technology and Culture'' is a quarterly academic journal founded in 1959. It is an official publication of the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT), whose members routinely refer to it as "T&C." Besides scholarly articles and critical e ...

'', ''

Journal of Cold War Studies The ''Journal of Cold War Studies'' is a quarterly Peer review, peer-reviewed academic journal on the history of the Cold War. It was established in 1999 and is published by MIT Press for the Harvard Project on Cold War Studies. The journal is issu ...

'', Michelle Evans of the

National Space Society The National Space Society (NSS) is an American international nonprofit 501(c)(3) educational and scientific organization specializing in space advocacy. It is a member of the Independent Charities of America and an annual participant in the Combi ...

, readers of

collectSPACE collectSPACE is an online publication and community for space history enthusiasts featuring articles and photos about space artifacts and memorabilia, information on past, current, and upcoming space events, space history collecting resources, an ...

, and

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier a ...

nominee

Steven H Silver Steven H Silver (born April 19, 1967) is an American science fiction fan and bibliographer, publisher, author, and editor. He has been nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer twelve times and Best Fanzine seven times without winni ...

of Silver Reviews, hosted by

SF Site SF may refer to: Locations * San Francisco, California, United States * Sidi Fredj, Algeria * South Florida, an urban region in the United States * Suomi Finland, former vehicular country code for Finland In arts and entertainment Genre ...

. French's space history writing is noted for the amount of personal interviews with

astronauts An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

and

cosmonauts An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

, including

Wally Schirra Walter Marty Schirra Jr. (, March 12, 1923 – May 3, 2007) was an American naval aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. In 1959, he became one of the original seven astronauts chosen for Project Mercury, which was the United States' f ...

Gordon Cooper Leroy Gordon "Gordo" Cooper Jr. (March 6, 1927 – October 4, 2004) was an American aerospace engineer, test pilot, United States Air Force pilot, and the youngest of the seven original astronauts in Project Mercury, the first human spac ...

Scott Carpenter Malcolm Scott Carpenter (May 1, 1925 – October 10, 2013) was an American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aeronautical engineer, astronaut, and aquanaut. He was one of the Mercury Seven astronauts selected for NASA's Project Mercury ...

, and

Pavel Popovich Pavel Romanovich Popovich (russian: Па́вел Рома́нович Попо́вич, uk, Павло Романович Попович, Pavlo Romanovych Popovych) (5 October 1930 – 29 September 2009) was a Soviet cosmonaut. Popovich was the ...

. In addition, French is a contributor to the magazine of the

British Interplanetary Society The British Interplanetary Society (BIS), founded in Liverpool in 1933 by Philip E. Cleator, is the oldest existing space advocacy organisation in the world. Its aim is exclusively to support and promote astronautics and space exploration. Stru ...

, and is a Fellow of the society. In 2005, astronaut

personally inducted French into the astronaut branch of the

Ancient Order of Turtles The Ancient and Honorable Order of Turtles ("International Association of Turtles", "Turtle Club",

. French has made appearances as a space expert on the Discovery Channel, History Channel,

Science Channel Science Channel (often simply branded as Science; abbreviated to SCI) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel features programming focusing on science related to wilderness survival, engineering, manu ...

, and

The Space Show ''The Space Show'' is a biweekly Internet radio talk show, presented by David Livingston (born June 4, 1946), about space commerce and exploration that is also available archived online as a podcast. According to Livingston, the show started i ...

, as well as the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

, NPR's "All Things Considered," ABC and other international broadcast shows. Both of French's 2007 books, ''

Into That Silent Sea ''Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era 1961–1965'' is a 2007 non-fiction book by space historians Francis French and Colin Burgess. Drawing on a number of original personal interviews with astronauts, cosmonauts and those who wor ...

: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961–1965'' and '' In the Shadow of the Moon: A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965–1969'' were named as finalists for the 2007

Eugene M. Emme Award The Eugene M. Emme Award is an award given annually to a person or persons selected by a panel of reviewers from the American Astronautical Society History Committee to recognize "the truly outstanding book published each year serving public unders ...

given by the

American Astronautical Society Formed in 1954, the American Astronautical Society (AAS) is an independent scientific and technical group in the United States dedicated to the advancement of space science and space exploration. AAS supports NASA's Vision for Space Exploration ...

. The latter was also named as 2009 Outstanding Academic Title by the American Library Association's Choice magazine. In 2008, French received the

AIAA The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of ...

"Outstanding Contribution to Aerospace Education" award, and the "Outstanding Community Support" award for San Diego from the

. In 2011, French's co-authored book "Falling To Earth" made the top 12 of the LA Times Bestseller list. On 20 August 2010, French was inducted into the U.S. Space & Rocket Center's Space Camp Hall of Fame for his contributions to space history writing plus making science and technology accessible and understandable to family audiences. French joined notable names in space history in the Hall of Fame such as rocket pioneer

Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( , ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German and American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and Allgemeine SS, as well as the leading figure in the develop ...

and NASA astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger.

Bibliography

*''

: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961–1965'', with Colin Burgess, 2007 *'' In the Shadow of the Moon: A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965–1969'', with Colin Burgess, 2007 * ''Astronomica'', Ed.

Fred Watson Frederick Garnett "Fred" Watson AM (born 14 December 1944) is an English-born astronomer and popular scientist in Australia. He holds the role of Australia's First Astronomer at Large with the Commonwealth Government of Australia, relaying ...

, 2007 (contributor) * ''The Great Explorers'', Ed. Robin Hanbury-Tenison, 2010 (Yuri Gagarin chapter) * ''Falling to Earth: An Apollo 15 Astronaut's Journey to the Moon'', with

Al Worden Alfred Merrill Worden (February 7, 1932 – March 18, 2020) was an American test pilot, engineer and NASA astronaut who was the command module pilot for the Apollo 15 lunar mission in 1971. One of only 24 people to have flown to the ...

, 2011 * ''Apollo Pilot'', with

Donn Eisele Donn Fulton Eisele (June 23, 1930 – December 1, 1987) (Colonel (United States), Colonel United States Air Force, USAF) was a United States Air Force, United States Air Force officer, test pilot, and later a List of astronauts by selection ...

, 2016 (editor) * ''Astronaut Al Travels to the Moon'', with

and Michelle Rouch, 2021 * ''The Light of Earth'', with

, 2021
'The Light of Earth'' official publisher site]

References

External links

Francis French web siteRare B&W video of Yuri Gagarin in Manchester digitally reconstructed in 2011 with a section of the original 16mm cine film kept safe by Francis French since 1987
{{DEFAULTSORT:French, Francis 1970 births Living people Alumni of Brunel University London English non-fiction writers Writers from Manchester People educated at North Cestrian Grammar School English male non-fiction writers