By Astrophilatelie Martin
40 years ago, the first French astronaut flew to the stars...
On June 24, 1982, Jean-Loup Christian with the Soviets Vladimir Djanibekov and Alexander Ivanchenkov took off from Baikonour to join the Soviet orbital station Saliut 7. He became the first Frenchman to fly in space, opening the way, in the middle of the cold war, to intense scientific cooperation between Paris and Moscow.
His mission was called "PVH" (First Habité Flight): an eight-day trip in orbit aboard Saliout 7, ancestor of the station Mir. HOST of the permanent crew (Soyouz T 5, Anatoli Berezovoy and Valentin Lebedev), Jean-Loup Chrétien was the pre mier foreign visitor to ne not from a communist country, and the first French spaceaut.
"PVH" marks the culmination of a French will to cooperate with the USSR driven by General De Gaulle, who in 1966 was the first Western head of state to visit Baikonour, in a relaxing context.
During the mission, Jean-Loup conducts 37 experiments in astronomy, geophysics, metallurgy, biology and medicine.
Back on July 2, 1982 for a 7 day flight 21 hours 50 minutes and 125 Earth orbits.
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