Claudie Haigneré is the first European female astronaut. For many, she is the embodiment of the inspiring woman. A role of "model" that she is willing to assume with the younger generations. Today she is an ambassador for the European Space Agency and regularly participates in conferences to bring her message of empowerment to young girls.
Walking on the Moon, a driving dream.
But his heart beats for other conquests. With anchored in her, a dream that has never left her. This dream was born on a certain day in 1969, in front of a television screen with her family. A man sets foot on the Moon for the first time. A page in the history of mankind is being written. Secretly, the 12-year-old girl says to herself "why not me?" Many years later, the sky opens up for the scientist she has become. She learns that the Russian space agency is hiring and recruiting candidates and ... candidates.
It will not be the dream Moon of the Appollo mission, but the space that opens her arms in August 1996. After 11 years of training and education, she participates in her first space mission, Cassiopeia. Destination the Russian orbital station Mir for a 16-day flight. There she will conduct a number of medical-physiological, technical and biological experiments. On August 17, 1996, Claudie Haigneré leaves the Baikonur cosmodrome aboard the Soyuz TM-24 with the Russians Valery Korzun and Alexandre Kaleri. Direction the Mir station. After joining the European Space Agency, Claudie Haigneré packed her bags for a new mission in January 2001. She then became the first French woman to fly aboard the International Space Station ISS.
To the question, "did you have a model woman who guided / accompanied you? " She answers: "What were my models? This question is often asked to me. I would say that I had models of the type of explorers or ship captains, and it was more men, because at that time, during my youth years, there were not many women there".
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