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Christiansborg, den 24. august 2004

Europaudvalgets sekretariat

Born on 13 May 1957 in Creusot (Saône-et-Loire)

Doctor of Science. Rheumatologist, specializing in aeronautical medicine, specializing in neuroscience. member of the « Académie des Technologies ».

Claudie Haigneré practised medicine for 8 years in the rheumatology clinic and rehabilitation department at the Cochin Hospital in Paris. For 6 years, in the neurosensory physiology laboratory at the Paris Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS - national centre for scientific research), she prepared scientific human physiology experiments and carried out research on the adaptation of sensory-motor systems in microgravity. From 1990 to 1992, Claudie Haigneré was responsible for the space physiology and medicine programmes in the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES - national space studies centre) Life Science division in Paris. In 1992, she began her initial training in Russia and spent time there in 1993 and 1994 coordinating the scientific programmes of the "Altair" and "EuroMir" missions on the Russian orbital space station Mir. In 1995, Mrs Haigneré returned to Star City for her second training period. On 17 August 1996, she began a 16-day flight on Russia's orbital space station Mir for the Franco-Russian "Cassiopée" mission and carried out many medico-physiological, technical and biological experiments. In May 1998, she went to Star City as a back-up astronaut for the Franco-Russian "Perseus" mission which started in February 1999 on board Mir. She completed a full training course to become both Mir flight engineer at the station and Soyuz Return Commander qualifying her to command a three-person Soyuz capsule during its return from space. In 1999, she joined the European Space Agency (ESA) and its European Astronaut Corps in Cologne, Germany. In 2001, she returned to Star City for 9 months' training for the "Andromède" mission. The first French astronaut to fly on the International Space Station (ISS), C. Haigneré, chief flight engineer, worked on a programme of experiments in the fields of Earth observation, ionosphere, life and material sciences.

Political offices

- June 2002 to March 2004 : Minister Delegate for Research and New Technology.

Over these two years, Claudie Haigneré made active efforts to promote major European projects at the Competitive Council in Brussels. In particular, she supported the creation of an agency for fundamental research and successfully argued the case for choosing Cadarache as the European candidate site for the installation of the ITER reactor. In the space field, she played a major role in obtaining the inclusion in the draft Convention of shared responsibility for space matters and actively contributed to the establishment of the ESA/EU agreements. She represented France in many international meetings: inter alia the World Information Summit in Geneva and the Earth Observation Summit in Washington. She paid several visits to the United States, and also went to Russia, China, Japan and Korea.

- Since April 2004 : Minister Delegate for European Affairs.

Honours

Officier de la Légion d'Honneur, Chevalier dans l'Ordre National du Mérite, Russian "Order of Friendship Between Peoples" and "Order of Personal Courage" medals.

Undertegnede