Léopold "Leo" Eyharts (born 28 April 1957) is a
French Brigadier General in the
French Air Force, an
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
and
ESA astronaut
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...
. He has flown to space two times as part of a
Mir expedition and an
International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...
expedition.
Eyharts was born on 28 April 1957 in
Biarritz,
Basque Country, France. He graduated as an
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
from the
French Air Force Academy of
Salon-de-Provence in 1979, and graduated from the
École du personnel navigant d'essais et de réception (EPNER) French test pilot school in Istres in 1988.
He launched on board Space Shuttle mission
STS-122 to the International Space Station on 7 February 2008, where he joined
Expedition 16
Expedition 16 was the 16th List of International Space Station Expeditions, expedition to the International Space Station (ISS).
The first two crew members, Yuri Malenchenko and Peggy Whitson, launched on 10 October 2007, aboard Soyuz TMA-11, an ...
. He participated in the installation and configuration of the
Columbus European laboratory module. He returned to Earth aboard mission
STS-123 in March 2008.
Awards and honors
* Chevalier of the
Légion d'honneur
* Chevalier of the
Ordre national du Mérite
*
Médaille d'Outre-Mer
*
Silver National Defence Medal
* Cavalier of the
Order of Courage (Russia)
* Cavalier of the
Order of Friendship (Russia)
* The medal "For merits in development of space" (12 April 2011) for his outstanding contribution to the development of international cooperation in crewed space flight
References
External links
ESA profile page
1957 births
Living people
People from Biarritz
French-Basque people
French aviators
French spationauts
ESA astronauts
Crew members of the International Space Station
Knights of the Legion of Honour
Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite
École de l'air alumni
French Air Force generals
Space Shuttle program astronauts
Mir crew members
Recipients of the Order of Courage (Russia)
CNES personnel
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