Robert Joseph Aubinière Lippmann (September 24, 1912 – December 5, 2001) was a French military official and the inaugural director of the French Space Agency (CNES).

Biography

Early life

Aubinière was born in Paris and spent most of his schooling at the

Lycée Condorcet The Lycée Condorcet () is a secondary school in Paris, France, located at 8, rue du Havre, in the city's 9th arrondissement. Founded in 1803, it is one of the four oldest high schools in Paris and also one of the most prestigious. Since its inc ...

. He did his '' hypotaupe'' at Condorcet and his taupe at

Lycée Chaptal The Lycée Chaptal, formerly the Collège Chaptal, is a large secondary school in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, named after Jean-Antoine Chaptal, with about 2,000 pupils. It was taken over by the City of Paris in 1848 after the founder ran into ...

then at

Lycée Louis-le-Grand The Lycée Louis-le-Grand (), also referred to simply as Louis-le-Grand or by its acronym LLG, is a public Lycée (French secondary school, also known as sixth form college) located on Rue Saint-Jacques (Paris), rue Saint-Jacques in central Par ...

. Robert Aubinière entered the

École polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...

in 1933.

Military career

After graduating from the

in 1935, Aubinière joined the

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...

as a lieutenant. Upon completing his training at the École de l'air et de l'espace, he was assigned to the 61st Wing, stationed in Blida, in October 1936. In September 1943, he left Algeria for London, where he was named head of air operations for northern France (Region A). In December 1943, he parachuted into

Is-sur-Tille Is-sur-Tille () is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté France. Geography Is-sur-Tille is located about twenty kilometers north of Dijon, on the river Ignon, close to its confluence with the Tille. To the west i ...

in Burgundy and later operated secretly in Lille as head of the air operations office (BOA), succeeding Pierre Deshayes. He helped coordinate the logistics of the Tortue plan, aimed at delaying German tanks ahead of the Allied landings. In February 1944, he joined the special services department. On April 14, 1944, he was arrested by the Gestapo in Lille, deported to Germany in September, and interned at a V2 factory in Neubrandenburg. He returned to France in May 1945. By September 1945, Aubinière was second in command at the École de l'air et de l'espace, first in Paris and later in

Salon-de-Provence Salon-de-Provence (, ; or , ), commonly known as Salon, is a commune located about northwest of Marseille in the Bouches-du-Rhône department (Metropolis of Aix-Marseille Provence), region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Southern France. It ...

. In January 1949, he entered the École de guerre, graduating in April 1950, and was then posted as chief of staff for the 5th Air Region in French North Africa. Promoted to colonel in 1952, he became commander of the 721 Rochefort air base, a training center for non-commissioned mechanical officers, in May 1954. On September 7, 1957, he was appointed director of the Centre interarmées d'essais d'engins spéciaux (CIEES, English: Joint Special Equipment Testing Center) in Colomb-Béchar. On January 10, 1960, he became director of the École de l'air et de l'espace and commander of the 701 Salon-de-Provence air base. On April 4, 1960, he was named technical and industrial director of Aeronautics at the Ministère de l'Air (English: Ministry of Air). He was promoted to air brigadier general in December, 1958, and to air

divisional general Divisional general is a general officer rank who commands an army division. The rank originates from the French Revolutionary System, and is used by a number of countries. The rank is above a brigade general, and normally below an army corps ...

in June, 1961.

Civilian career

In 1962, Aubinière was appointed director general of the brand newly established the French Space Agency (CNES), and he stayed in the position until 1972. From 1972 to 1975, he was appointed Secretary General of the

European Launcher Development Organisation file:Europa2vrp.jpg, 250px, Europa II file:Europa2rp.jpg, 200px, Rolls-Royce ''RZ-12'' file:Coralie rocket stage top view.jpg, 200px, ''Coralie'' file:Europa Upper Stage University of Stuttgart 02.jpg, 200px, ''Astris'' The European Launcher ...

Honors

Aubinière received numerous honors including the Grand-Croix of the Legion d’Honneur the

Croix de Guerre The (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awarded during World ...

, the

Order of Merit The Order of Merit () is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII, admission into the order r ...

, the Aeronautical Medal, the 1939–1945 Commemorative war medal, and the North Africa Security and Order Operations Commemorative Medal. He's also an honorary member of the

Académie de l'air et de l'espace An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the g ...

in France.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aubiniere, Robert 1912 births 2001 deaths Space technology research institutes European Space Agency personnel École Polytechnique alumni Lycée Condorcet alumni Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni French colonels People from Paris French Air Force generals Recipients of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Ordre national du Mérite Recipients of the Aeronautical Medal Recipients of the Croix de Guerre (France) École de l'air alumni CNES directors