Michel Tognini

Michel Tognini
Born (1949-09-30) 30 September 1949
Vincennes, France
StatusRetired
NationalityFrench
OccupationTest Pilot
Space career
CNES/ESA astronaut
RankBrigadier General, French Air Force
Time in space
18d 17h 46m
Selection1985 CNES Group 2, 1999 ESA Group
MissionsSoyuz TM-15/14, STS-93
Mission insignia

Michel Ange-Charles Tognini (born 30 September 1949 in Vincennes, France) is a French test pilot, engineer, brigadier general in the French Air Force, and a former CNES and ESA astronaut who served from 1 January 2005 to 1 November 2011 as head of the European Astronaut Centre of the European Space Agency. A veteran of two space flights, Tognini has logged a total of 19 days in space. Tognini has 4000 flight hours on 80 types of aircraft (mainly fighter aircraft, including the MiG-25, Tupolev 154, Lightning MK-3 and MK-5, Gloster Meteor, and F-104). He is fluent in English and Russian.