Patrick Pierre Roger Baudry (born March 6, 1946, in
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...
) is a retired lieutenant colonel in the
French Air Force
The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...
and a former
CNES
CNES () is the French national space agency. Headquartered in central Paris, the agency is overseen by the ministries of the Armed Forces, Economy and Finance and Higher Education, Research and Innovation.
It operates from the Toulouse Spac ...
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 ...
. In 1985, he became the second French citizen in space, after
Jean-Loup Chrétien, when he flew aboard
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
's
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...
mission
STS-51-G.
Personal
Baudry was born in
Douala
Douala is the largest city in Cameroon and its economic capital. It is also the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Region (Cameroon), Littoral Region. It was home to Central Africa's largest port, now being replaced by Kribi port. It has the country ...
(
French Cameroon
French Cameroon, also known as the French Cameroons (), was a French mandate territory in Central Africa. It now forms part of the independent country of Cameroon.
Eastern part of the former German colony of Cameroon (). Its status, from ...
) and is married with three children from another union. His hobbies include mechanical sports, such as
motorcycling
Motorcycling is the act of riding a motorcycle. For some people, motorcycling may be the only affordable form of individual motorized transportation, and small-engine displacement, displacement motorcycles are the most common motor vehicle in ...
and
car racing. He also enjoys running
marathons, playing
squash,
skiing
Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...
,
shooting
Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missile ...
,
windsurfing
Windsurfing is a wind-propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the Californian aerospace and surf culture. Windsurfing gain ...
, and
sky diving
Parachuting and skydiving are methods of descending from a high point in an atmosphere to the ground or ocean surface with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or multiple parachutes.
For hu ...
. Baudry is also a wine connaisseur. His parents were part of the French resistance during the Second World War and his family was rewarded the
Resistance Medal
The Resistance Medal (, ) was a decoration bestowed by the French Committee of National Liberation, based in the United Kingdom, during World War II. It was established by a decree of General Charles de Gaulle on 9 February 1943 "to recognize the ...
for their courage and effort during the war.
Education
*
Prytanée National Militaire, 1967
*
French Airforce Academy "École de l'Air", 1969
Experience
Baudry completed flight training at
Salon-de-Provence
Salon-de-Provence (, ; or , ), commonly known as Salon, is a commune located about northwest of Marseille in the Bouches-du-Rhône department (Metropolis of Aix-Marseille Provence), region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Southern France. It ...
and
Tours
Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...
, France, receiving his wings in 1970. Served as a fighter pilot in Fighter Squadron 1/11 "Roussillon" on
F100 and
Jaguar
The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...
, and completed numerous operational missions in several countries of
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
. He entered the ''
Empire Test Pilots' School
The Empire Test Pilots' School (ETPS) is a British training school for test pilots and flight test engineers of fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft at MoD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, England. It was established in 1943, the first of its type. ...
'' at
Boscombe Down, England, in 1978, and was awarded the
Patuxent Trophy at the completion of the course. He was assigned to the Flight Test Center in
Brétigny-sur-Orge, France, in 1979, where he flew various test projects on fighter and attack-type aircraft which included flying the different types of
Mirages,
Jaguar
The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...
, and
Crusader.
He has logged more than 4,000 hours flying time – 3,300 in jet aircraft – and has flown over 100 different types of aircraft –
F-100,
F-104
The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is an American single-engine, supersonic Interceptor aircraft, interceptor. Created as a day fighter by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed as one of the "Century Series" of fighter aircraft for the United States Air ...
,
F-4, A-8,
T-33,
Lightning
Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...
,
Harrier,
Hunter
Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, ...
,
Canberra
Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...
,
Jaguar
The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...
, all types of
Mirages,
Mystère 4,
Vautour, and other aircraft.
Baudry holds an airline transport pilot license. He worked for some time after his space flight for
Airbus
Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...
as a test pilot, and is now retired in the
Aquitaine
Aquitaine (, ; ; ; ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne (), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former Regions of France, administrative region. Since 1 January 2016 it has been part of the administ ...
region.
CNES experience
Baudry became a
CNES
CNES () is the French national space agency. Headquartered in central Paris, the agency is overseen by the ministries of the Armed Forces, Economy and Finance and Higher Education, Research and Innovation.
It operates from the Toulouse Spac ...
astronaut candidate in June 1980. For two years, he trained at CNES and at
Star City near
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
. He was a member of the back-up crew for the French-Soviet
Soyuz T-6 Intercosmos mission and was trained for scientific experiments in the fields of physiology, biology, materials processing in space, and astronomy. Baudry is a CNES expert for crewed space flight activities and participates in the analysis of decisions and study of definition for the future "
Hermes
Hermes (; ) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology considered the herald of the gods. He is also widely considered the protector of human heralds, travelers, thieves, merchants, and orators. He is able to move quic ...
" space aircraft.
Spaceflight experience

Baudry flew as a
payload specialist
A payload specialist (PS) was an individual selected and trained by commercial or research organizations for flights of a specific payload on a NASA Space Shuttle mission. People assigned as payload specialists included individuals selected by t ...
on
STS-51-G Discovery (June 17–24, 1985).
STS-51-G was launched from
Kennedy Space Center
The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...
,
Florida
Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
, and returned to land at
Edwards Air Force Base
Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, California, Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino County and a souther ...
,
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
. The international crew aboard Discovery deployed communications satellites for Mexico (
Morelos
Morelos, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Morelos, is a landlocked state located in south-central Mexico. It is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Mun ...
), the Arab League (Arabsat), and the United States (AT&T Telstar). They deployed and later retrieved the SPARTAN satellite, which performed 17 hours of x-ray astronomy experiments while separated from the Space Shuttle. In completing this flight, Baudry traveled 2.5 million miles in 112 Earth orbits, logging over 169 hours in space.
Organizations
Association of European Astronauts; correspondent of the
Air and Space Academy; and member of several wine tasters' confréries, such as "
Chevaliers du Tastevin," "
Jurade de St Emilion", and "
Confrérie du Bontemps".
Awards and honors
Chevalier of the Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...
;
Chevalier of the National Merit Order; French Astronautics Medal; the Soviet
Order of Friendship of Peoples
The Order of Friendship of Peoples () was an order of the Soviet Union, and was awarded to persons (including non-citizens), organizations, enterprises, military units, as well as administrative subdivisions of the USSR for accomplishments in s ...
and the
Soviet Order of Gagarine.
References
NASA Biography for Patrick Baudry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baudry, Patrick
1946 births
Living people
French spationauts
Recipients of the Aeronautical Medal
École de l'air alumni
UNESCO goodwill ambassadors
Space Shuttle program astronauts
People from Douala
CNES personnel