Matthieu Limongi, edited by Alexis Rey-Millet 11:10 a.m., June 24, 2022

Jean-Loup Chrétien, the first Frenchman to go into space, has decided to auction off some of the objects that accompanied him on his space journey.

40 years to the day after his take-off, the astronaut is selling items ranging from gloves to suits to a miniature organ.

It was 40 years ago... On June 24, 1982, Jean-Loup Chrétien became the first Frenchman to fly into space.

At the time a fighter pilot, he launched himself as a free candidate in the selections before being accepted, then taking off for the PVH mission, "first manned flight", in the Russian station Salyut 7. At 83, this tireless enthusiast who still works for NASA has decided to auction off some of his space objects which went into orbit with him and which, until then, were sleeping in his boxes.

The opportunity for him to immerse himself in a memory engraved in his memory.

>> LISTEN -

 French in space

Treat yourself to a piece of space in your living room

Because four decades may well separate him from his first flight, Jean-Loup Chrétien remembers it as if it were yesterday: "All these moments spent with colleagues, the arrival in orbit, the start of the flight in weightlessness, the around the earth in an hour and a half…", he says at the microphone of Europe 1.

An intact memory that he has chosen to transmit through objects: a spacesuit glove, a jacket, a watch or even a crew log.

All traveled with him in space, so no question of leaving them to anyone.

"I prefer to know that it goes to collectors, when there are some it's quite comforting. I attended offers of objects which left in boxes, and which were forgotten", explains the astronaut.

Between 20 euros and 15,000 euros

Another auction item: a miniature organ.

Before dreaming of space, Jean-Loup Chrétien saw himself as an organist in cathedrals.

In 1988, he decided for his second take-off to take the instrument with him to combine his two passions.

"That little instrument that went up there is a symbol. It wasn't easy, I couldn't play anything sophisticated. So I improvised on the theme of 

When the Saints Go Marchin in

“he says.

Objects estimated between 20 euros and 15,000 euros for the most expensive, which will be auctioned on Saturday June 25 at the Drouot hotel in Paris.

As for the profits, Jean-Loup Chrétien intends to donate them to the aeronautics sectors in need.