Patrick Baudry

Patrick Pierre Roger Baudry (born March 6, 1946 in Cameroon) is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the French Air Force and a former CNES astronaut. In 1985, he became the second French citizen in space, after Jean-Loup Chrétien, when he flew aboard NASA's Space Shuttle mission STS-51-G.

Baudry was born in Douala (French Cameroon) and is married with three children from another union. His hobbies include mechanical sports, such as motorcycling and car racing. He also enjoys running marathons, playing squash, skiing, shooting, windsurfing, and sky diving. 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 for their courage and effort during the war.

Baudry completed flight training at Salon-de-Provence and Tours, France, receiving his wings in 1970. Served as a fighter pilot in Fighter Squadron 1/11 "Roussillon" on F100 and Jaguar, and completed numerous operational missions in several countries of Africa. He entered the Empire Test Pilots' School 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, 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, F-4, A-8, T-33, Lightning, Harrier, Hunter, Canberra, Jaguar, 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 as a test pilot, and is now retired in the Aquitaine region.