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[EN VIDÉO] Survive in space without a suit, is it possible? In the event of an accident in space, how long can a man survive in contact with the sidereal vacuum without a suit? Discovery Science has looked into the question and the answer is rather baffling.
In 1965, on November 26, a rocket Diamond Took off from Algeria with a small satellite named Asterix on board. France then becomes the third space power in the world behind the United States and the USSR, that is to say a nation capable of placing a load in orbit by its own means. But compared to the two superpowers, France and Europe did not have and still do not have the technical means to bring a astronaut in the space.
Regardless, Europe and France will subsequently bet on international cooperation, thanks to the warming of relations that took place at the end of the Cold War. In 1982, only two machines in the world allow humans to fly beyond our atmospherethe very young american space shuttle and the ship Soyuz.
Before going any further, let’s play a bit: if @Thom_astro democratized the photos of the Earth from space, he was of course not the first to be interested in it ???? This was taken during the mission #HVP : do you have an idea of what it shows?
???? Intercosmos, 1982 pic.twitter.com/EA3giiT9Ot— CNES (@CNES) June 24, 2022
cooperation and science
It is on the latter that Jean-Loup Chretien, a former French Air Force test pilot, embarked on June 24 of the same year alongside Vladimir Djanibekov and Alexandre Ivanchenkov. The Soyuz T-6 mission then took off from Baikonur towards the space station Soviet Salyut-7. The symbol is strong: it is the first astronaut from the Western bloc to board these Soviet craft.
The mission is fully in line with the objective of the brand new Salyut 7 to carry out new scientific experiments, in particular to understand the spaceflight effects on the human body. Jean-Loup did not go into space alone, he found a whole battery of French scientific instruments specially designed for Salyut in orbit.
Jean-Loup Chrétien, the first Frenchman sent into space aboard a Soviet rocket, a Soyuz T-6. It was in 1982.
The first of an era
It was specifically for this mission that Cnes recruited its first astronauts. Only two were selected out of 400: Jean-Loup Chrétien and Patrick Baudry. After a quick but intense training in Moscow, the two astronauts are ready. Chrétien is selected, Baudry is in the reserve crew. However, the latter will not fly as part of the Franco-Soviet missions, but on the American shuttle three years later.
Jean-Loup Chrétien will take off again aboard a Soyuz in 1988, towards the Mir station this time, where he will cross a new milestone: to be the first astronaut neither American nor Soviet to carry out a spacewalk. He will make his third and last space flight in 1997 aboard the shuttle Atlantis before leaving Cnes and acquiring dual American nationality to end his career at the Nasa.
????Happy birthday to Jean-Loup Chrétien, first Frenchman in space ????????????????
He made 3 flights in total: PVH aboard Salyut 7 in 1982, ARAGATZ aboard MIR in 1988 and STS-86 in 1997 with the American shuttle Atlantis ???? pic.twitter.com/8GT9fxD3Y2— CNES (@CNES) August 20, 2021
He is the first of 10 French people to have flown in space, the latest being Thomas Pésquet. In a few months, theESA will unveil its new promotion of astronauts, will we have the eleventh Frenchman?
What you must remember
- Jean-Loup Chrétien is the first Frenchman and the first Western European to have traveled in space.
- He is also the first astronaut from the Western bloc to have flown on Soviet machines.
- It was 40 years ago, June 24, 1982 for the Soyuz T-6 mission to Salyut 7 station.
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