A physicist and engineer by training, Jean-Jacques Favier was selected in 1985 as an "experimental astronaut" by the French space agency, when he was a research engineer at the Commissariat l'énergie atomique (CEA).
At CNES, he became scientific manager of the Mephisto space furnace, which flew several times aboard the space shuttle Columbia. In 1995, he was designated as an astronaut specializing in a Spacelab experiment carried by the American spacecraft.
It spent 16 days, 21 hours and 48 minutes in orbit from June 20 to July 7, 1996. That is 14 years after Jean-Loup Chrétien, the first Frenchman to have flown in space, aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
Jean-Jacques Favier thus becomes "the first French scientist to have stayed in space", says CNES, paying tribute to his "exemplary career".
"It will leave its mark on future generations and inspire many of us," CNES CEO Philippe Baptiste said in a statement.
During his mission, Jean-Jacques Favier was responsible for more than 30 physics experiments in microgravity.
After his career as an astronaut, he became involved in education and research, notably collaborating on a CNES project to prepare a future lunar and/or Martian base.
© 2023 AFP