Marianne Merchez (born 25 October 1960 in

Uccle Uccle (French language, French, ) or Ukkel (Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the southern part of the region, it ...

) is a Belgian

doctor Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

from the

Catholic University of Louvain The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and a former

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

astronaut 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 ...

. She is certified in aerospace medicine and in industrial medicine, and she is also a professional pilot (holds a Belgian Air Transport Pilot License from Civil Aviation School, former co-pilot Boeing 737). She is married to former Italian ESA astronaut

Maurizio Cheli Maurizio Cheli (born 4 May 1959, in Zocca) is an Italian air force officer, a European Space Agency astronaut and a veteran of one NASA Space Shuttle mission. A native of Modena, Cheli attended the Italian Air Force Academy and trained as a tes ...

with whom she co-authored ''Tutto in un istante: le decisioni che tracciano il viaggio di una vita''.

References

External links

Official website

on Encyclopedia Astronautica Living people 1960 births People from Uccle Women astronauts Physician astronauts Belgian astronauts Belgian women aviators {{astronaut-stub