Francis French (born 1970) is a book and magazine author from

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, England, specialising in space flight history. He is a former director of events for Sally Ride Science, and a director at the

San Diego Air & Space Museum The San Diego Air & Space Museum (SDASM) is an aviation and space exploration museum in San Diego, California. It is located in Balboa Park (San Diego), Balboa Park and is housed in the former Ford Building (San Diego), Ford Building, which is li ...

. French's space history books have been reviewed by the Smithsonian's ''

Air & Space ''Air & Space/Smithsonian'' was a quarterly magazine published by the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city an ...

'' Magazine, ''

The San Diego Union-Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

'',

Jeff Foust Jeff Foust is an aerospace analyst, journalist and publisher. A senior aerospace analyst with the Futron Corporation in Bethesda, Maryland, he is the editor and publisher of ''The Space Review'' and has written for ''Astronomy Now'' and ''The New ...

of '' The Space Review'', ''Student Life'' newspaper,

Popmatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

, Quest: The History of Spaceflight,

Blogcritics Blogcritics is a blog network and online magazine of news and opinion. The site was founded in 2002 by Eric Olsen (writer), Eric Olsen and Phillip Winn. Blogcritics features more than 100 original articles every week, and maintains an archive of a ...

, ''Space Times'', '' Oxford Journals'', ''Air Power History'', ''

Technology and Culture ''Technology and Culture'' is a quarterly academic journal founded in 1959. It is an official publication of the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT), whose members routinely refer to it as "T&C". Besides scholarly articles and critical e ...

'', '' Journal of Cold War Studies'', Michelle Evans of the National Space Society, readers of

collectSPACE collectSPACE is an online publication and community for space history enthusiasts featuring articles and photos about space artifacts and memorabilia, information on past, current, and upcoming space events, space history collecting resources, an ...

, and

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ...

nominee Steven H Silver of Silver Reviews, hosted by SF Site. French's space history writing is noted for the amount of personal interviews with

astronauts An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

and

cosmonauts An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spacecraft. Although generally reserve ...

, including

Wally Schirra Walter Marty Schirra Jr. ( ; March 12, 1923 – May 3, 2007) was an American naval aviator (United States), naval aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. In 1959, he became one of the Mercury Seven, original seven astronauts chosen for Pro ...

Gordon Cooper Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr. (March 6, 1927 – October 4, 2004) was an American aerospace engineer, test pilot, United States Air Force Aviator, pilot, and the youngest of the Mercury Seven, seven original astronauts in Project Mercury, the f ...

Scott Carpenter Malcolm Scott Carpenter (May 1, 1925 – October 10, 2013) was an American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aeronautical engineer, astronaut, and aquanaut. He was one of the Mercury Seven astronauts selected for NASA's Project Mercury ...

, and

Pavel Popovich Pavel Romanovich Popovich (; ; 5 October 1930 – 29 September 2009) was a Soviet Union, Soviet cosmonaut. Popovich was the fourth cosmonaut in space, the sixth person in orbit, the eighth person and first Ukrainians, Ukrainian in space. Bio ...

. In addition, French is a contributor to the magazine of the

British Interplanetary Society The British Interplanetary Society (BIS), founded in Liverpool in 1933 by Philip E. Cleator, is the oldest existing space advocacy organisation in the world. Its aim is exclusively to support and promote astronautics and space exploration. St ...

, and is a Fellow of the society. In 2005, astronaut

personally inducted French into the astronaut branch of the Ancient Order of Turtles. French has made appearances as a space expert on the Discovery Channel, History Channel,

Science Channel Science Channel (often simply branded as Science; abbreviated to SCI) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel features programming focusing on science related to wilderness survival, engineering, manu ...

, and The Space Show, as well as the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

, NPR's "All Things Considered," ABC and other international broadcast shows. Both of French's 2007 books, '' Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961–1965'' and '' In the Shadow of the Moon: A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965–1969'' were named as finalists for the 2007 Eugene M. Emme Award given by the

American Astronautical Society Formed in 1954, the American Astronautical Society (AAS) is an independent scientific and technical group in the United States dedicated to the advancement of space science and space exploration. AAS supports NASA The National Aeronau ...

. The latter was also named as 2009 Outstanding Academic Title by the American Library Association's Choice magazine. In 2008, French received the

AIAA The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of ...

"Outstanding Contribution to Aerospace Education" award, and the "Outstanding Community Support" award for San Diego from the National Space Society. In 2011, French's co-authored book "Falling To Earth" made the top 12 of the LA Times Bestseller list. On 20 August 2010, French was inducted into the U.S. Space & Rocket Center's Space Camp Hall of Fame for his contributions to space history writing plus making science and technology accessible and understandable to family audiences. French joined notable names in space history in the Hall of Fame such as rocket pioneer

Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( ; ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German–American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and '' Allgemeine SS'', the leading figure in the development of ...

and NASA astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger. In 2024, French's ''An Unlikely Astronaut'', co-authored with Susan Kilrain, was read in space aboard the International Space Station. In 2024 French was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Education in recognition of his distinguished contribution to STEM and to education as a whole from Brunel University, London.

Bibliography

* '' Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961–1965'', with Colin Burgess, 2007 * '' In the Shadow of the Moon: A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965–1969'', with Colin Burgess, 2007 * ''Astronomica'', Ed. Fred Watson, 2007 (contributor) * ''The Great Explorers'', Ed. Robin Hanbury-Tenison, 2010 (Yuri Gagarin chapter) * ''Falling to Earth: An Apollo 15 Astronaut's Journey to the Moon'', with Al Worden, 2011 * ''Apollo Pilot'', with

Donn Eisele Donn Fulton Eisele (June 23, 1930 – December 1, 1987) (Colonel USAF) was a United States Air Force officer, test pilot, and later a NASA astronaut. He served as command module pilot for the Apollo 7 mission in 1968. After retiring from ...

, 2016 (editor) * ''Astronaut Al Travels to the Moon'', with Al Worden and Michelle Rouch, 2021 * ''The Light of Earth'', with Al Worden, 2021 * ''An Unlikely Astronaut'', with Susan Kilrain, 2023
'An Unlikely Astronaut'' official publisher site]

References

External links

Francis French web site

Rare B&W video of Yuri Gagarin in Manchester digitally reconstructed in 2011 with a section of the original 16mm cine film kept safe by Francis French since 1987
{{DEFAULTSORT:French, Francis 1970 births Living people Alumni of Brunel University London English non-fiction writers Writers from Manchester People educated at North Cestrian Grammar School English male non-fiction writers