Happy birthday, French astronaut Michel Tognini!

Michel Tognini, born September 30, 1949 in Vincennes, France, has gone into space on Soyuz and space shuttle missions.  He was selected by France's space agency, the National Center for Space Studies (CNES), in July 1986. 

His first flight was aboard Soyuz TM-15 in July 1992 to the space station Mir.  He stayed on board for about two weeks before returning on Soyuz TM-14.

His second and final mission in space was aboard Columbia (STS-93) as mission specialist in July 1999.  The mission lasted just under 5 days.

Soyuz TM-15 launched 1992

Soyuz TM-15 crew (L-R): Michel Tognini, Anatoly Solovyev, Sergei Avdeyev

Mission patch

Soyuz TM-15, launched July 27, 1992, was the fifteenth mission to the Mir space station.  Its crew consisted of  Commander Anatoly Solovyev, Sergei Avdeyev and Michel Tognini (CNES). 

Tognini is a National Center for Space Studies astronaut and took part in the mission as a joint project between Russia and France.

Columbia (STS-93) launched 1999

STS-93 crew (L-R): Eileen Collins, Steven Hawley, Jeffrey Ashby, Michel Tognini, Catherine Coleman.

STS-93 mission patch

Space Shuttle Columbia blasted off July 23, 1999 with the first female commander of any shuttle mission.  Its crew consisted of Commander Eileen Collins, Pilot Jeffrey Ashby, Michel Tognini (Centre National d'etudes Spatiales, CNES), Steven Hawley and Catherine Coleman.

The mission's primary objective was to deploy the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the most sophisticated of its kind ever built.

After this flight, Columbia went out of service for upgrading and did not fly again until 2002 (STS-109).

The crew returned to Earth July 28.

Soyuz TM-14 launched 1992

Soyuz TM-14 crew: Klaus-Dietrich Flade, Alexandr Viktorenko, Alexander Kaleri

Soyuz TM-14, launched March 17, 1992, was the 14th expedition to Mir and the first Russian Soyuz mission after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Its crew consisted of Commander Alexandr Viktorenko, Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri, and Research Cosmonaut Klaus-Dietrich Flade from Germany.  The Russians returned to Earth with Michel Tognini (who arrived on Mir on Soyuz TM-15) August 10.  Flade remained on Mir and returned on Soyuz TM-13.