Encyclopedia Astronautica
Clervoy

Clervoy
Credit: www.spacefacts.de - www.spacefacts.de

Grew up in Toulouse, France. Educated Saint-Cyr; Ecole Polytechnique. French Air Force test pilot.

NAME: Jean-François Clervoy

BIRTHPLACE AND DATE: Longeville-les-Metz, France, 19 November 1958, but considers Toulouse, France, to be his home town.

EDUCATION: Received a baccalauréat from Collège Militaire de Saint-Cyr-l'Ecole in 1976 and passed preparatory classes for les grandes écoles at the Prytanée Militaire Lyceum, La Flèche, in 1978. Graduated from Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, in 1981; from Ecole Nationale Supérieure de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace, (ENSAE) Toulouse, in 1983; and as a Flight Test Engineer from Ecole du Personnel Navigant d'Essais et de Réception, Istres, in 1987.

FAMILY: Married, one son and one daughter.

RECREATIONAL INTERESTS: Enjoys racket sports, skill games, canyoning, all flying activities.

ORGANISATIONS: Member of the Association of Space Explorers, Honorary member of the French Aeronautic and Astronautic Association (AAAF).

EXPERIENCE: Jean-François Clervoy was seconded from Délégation Générale pour l'Armement to CNES (French National Space Agency) in 1983, where he was involved in automatics and attitude control on projects like the SPOT Earth Observation satellite, the STAR inter-satellite optical link and the VEGA comet probe.

Between 1983 and 1987, he was a lecturer in signal processing and general mechanics at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace, Toulouse. Clervoy also holds military and civilian parachuting licences, military and civilian diving licenses and a private pilot licence. He was selected in the second group of French astronauts in 1985 and the following year participated in an intensive, five-month Russian language course. After graduating as a Flight Test Engineer in 1987, he spent the next five split between the Flight Test Centre, Brétigny-sur-Orge, as Chief Test Director of the Parabolic Flight Programme (responsible for testing and qualifying a Caravelle aircraft for microgravity simulation flights) and the Hermes Space Vehicle Crew Office, ESA Toulouse, where he supported European manned space programmes. In 1991 he completed six weeks of training in Star City, near Moscow, on the Soyuz and Mir systems.

The following year Clervoy was selected to join the ESA Astronaut Corps at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany, and in August was detached to the NASA Astronaut Office in Houston, USA, where he completed a year of training and qualified for assignment as a Space Shuttle crew Mission Specialist. He then worked on remote manipulator system/robotics issues for the Astronaut Office Mission Development Branch.

Jean-François Clervoy flew for the first time aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis on the STS-66 ATLAS-3 (Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science) mission in November 1994. The flight, which studied the composition of the Earth's atmosphere and solar energy output, included a high level of participation by European scientists and a significant ESA contribution in the field of remote operations. Clervoy used the robotic arm to deploy and later retrieve the SPAS atmospheric research satellite of the German space agency.

Clervoy was subsequently assigned to the Astronaut Office Mission Support Branch at NASA where he was flight software verification lead in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL), with responsibility for designing the robotics displays for the Space Station branch of the Astronaut Office. Clervoy was selected for his second spaceflight (STS-84), the sixth Space Shuttle-Mir docking mission which took place between 15 and 24 May 1997. During this flight he had numerous crucial tasks, including monitoring the performance of Shuttle systems during rendezvous and docking with the Mir space station. As Payload Commander, he was also responsible for more than 20 scientific experiments and assisted in coordinating the transfer of four tons of supplies to Mir during the five days of docked operations.

Jean-François Clervoy was thereafter made Deputy Chief of the computer branch for the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station at the NASA-JSC Astronaut Office.

SPECIAL HONOURS: NASA Space Flight Medal, Chevalier de l'Ordre de la Légion d'Honneur, Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite, USSR Pilot-Cosmonaut V.M. Komarov diploma of the International Aeronautical Federation.

July 1998.

Birth Place: Longeville-les-Metz.
Status: Active.


Born: 1958.11.19.
Spaceflights: 3 .
Total time in space: 28.13 days.

• France France More...

• CNES Group 1 - 1985 Requirement: French astronauts for spaceflights to Mir space station, More...

• Cosmonaut Category of persons who have been trained for spaceflight in Russia. More...

• Engineer Category of persons. More...

• ESA Group 1 - 1992 Requirement: ESA astronauts for Mir, Shuttle, and ISS missions. More...

• Mission Specialist Astronaut Astronauts trained for spaceflight but not to pilot spacecraft. More...

• NASA Group 14 - 1992 Requirement: pilot, engineer, and scientist astronauts for space shuttle flights. Nickname: The Hogs. More...

• STS-66 Crew: Brown, Clervoy, McMonagle, Ochoa, Parazynski, Tanner. Carried Atlas-3 laboratory; deployed and retrieved CRISTA-SPAS. More...

• STS-84 Crew: Clervoy, Collins Eileen, Kondakova, Lu, Noriega, Precourt. Delivered to Mir and returned to earth 2500 kg of payload. More...

• Mir NASA-4 Crew: Foale. Foale relieved Linenger as NASA resident on the Mir station. Backup crew: Voss. More...

• STS-103 Crew: Brown, Clervoy, Foale, Grunsfeld, Kelly Scott, Nicollier, Smith Steven. Hubble Space Telescope (HST) servicing mission SM-3A, More...

• French Army French Army. More...

• Mir The Mir space station was the last remnant of the once mighty Soviet space programme. It was built to last only five years, and was to have been composed of modules launched by Proton and Buran/Energia launch vehicles. These modules were derived from those originally designed by Chelomei in the 1960's for the Almaz military station programme. As the Soviet Union collapsed Mir stayed in orbit, but the final modules were years late and could only be completed with American financial assistance. Kept flying over a decade beyond its rated life, Mir proved a source of pride to the Russian people and proved the ability of their cosmonauts and engineers to improvise and keep operations going despite all manner of challenges and mishaps. More...

• STS The Space Transportation System (Space Shuttle) was conceived originally as a completely reusable system that would provide cheap, routine access to space and replace all American and civilian military launch vehicles. Crippled by technological overreach, political compromise, and budget limitations, it instead ended up costing more than the expendable rockets it was to have replaced. STS sucked the money out of all other NASA projects for half a century. The military abandoned its use after the Challenger shuttle explosion in the 1980's. More...

• STS-66 - . Call Sign: Atlantis. Crew: Brown; Clervoy; McMonagle; Ochoa; Parazynski; Tanner. Payload: Atlantis F13 / Atlas-3. Mass: 10,544 kg (23,245 lb). Nation: USA. Related Persons: Brown; Clervoy; McMonagle; Ochoa; Parazynski; Tanner. Agency: NASA Houston. Program: STS. Class: Manned. Type: Manned spaceplane. Flight: STS-66. Spacecraft: Atlantis. Duration: 10.94 days. Decay Date: 1994-11-14 . USAF Sat Cat: 23340 . COSPAR: 1994-073A. Apogee: 301 km (187 mi). Perigee: 284 km (176 mi). Inclination: 57.0000 deg. Period: 90.40 min. Carried Atlas-3 laboratory; deployed and retrieved CRISTA-SPAS. Payloads: Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS) 3, Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers and Telescopes for the Atmo-sphere (CRISTA)-Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS) 1, Experiment of the Sun for Complement-ing the ATLAS Payload for Education (ESCAPE) II, Inter-Mars Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter (ITEPC), Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV) A, Physiological and Anatomical Rodent Experiment (PARE/NIH-R), Protein Crystal Growth (PCG-TES and PCG-STES), Space Tissue Loss (STL/NIH-C-A), Shuttle Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS), Heat Pipe Performance (HPP).

• Landing of STS-66 - . Return Crew: Brown; Clervoy; McMonagle; Ochoa; Parazynski; Tanner. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Brown; Clervoy; McMonagle; Ochoa; Parazynski; Tanner. Program: Spacelab. Flight: STS-66. Summary: STS-66 landed at 15:34 GMT. .

• STS-84 - . Call Sign: Atlantis. Crew: Precourt; Collins, Eileen; Clervoy; Lu; Noriega; Kondakova; Foale. Backup Crew: Titov, Vladimir. Payload: Atlantis F19 / Spacehab Double Module. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Precourt; Collins, Eileen; Clervoy; Lu; Noriega; Kondakova; Foale; Titov, Vladimir. Agency: NASA Houston. Program: Mir. Class: Manned. Type: Manned spaceplane. Flight: STS-84; Mir NASA-4; Mir NASA-3; Mir EO-23. Spacecraft: Atlantis. Duration: 9.22 days. Decay Date: 1997-05-24 . USAF Sat Cat: 24804 . COSPAR: 1997-023A. Apogee: 393 km (244 mi). Perigee: 377 km (234 mi). Inclination: 51.7000 deg. Period: 92.30 min. Atlantis blasted off on a night launch to Mir, docking with the station on May 17 at 02:33 GMT. Jerry Linenger, who had begun his stay on Mir in mid-January aboard STS-81, would return aboard STS-84. Michael Foale would be left at the station for his stint as the American crew member of Mir. The crew transfered to Mir 466 kg of water, 383 kg of U.S. science equipment, 1,251 kg of Russian equipment and supplies, and 178 kg of miscellaneous material. Returned to Earth aboard Atlantis were 406 kg of U.S. science material, 531 kg of Russian logistics material, 14 kg of ESA material and 171 kg of miscellaneous material. Atlantis undocked from Mir at 01:04 GMT on May 22. After passing up its first landing opportunity due to clouds over the landing site, the Shuttle fired its OMS engines on the deorbit burn at 12:33 GMT on May 24. Atlantis landed at 13:27 GMT at Kennedy Space Center's runway 33.

• Landing of STS-84 - . Return Crew: Precourt; Collins, Eileen; Clervoy; Lu; Noriega; Kondakova; Linenger. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Precourt; Collins, Eileen; Clervoy; Lu; Noriega; Kondakova; Linenger. Program: Mir. Flight: STS-84; Mir NASA-4; Mir NASA-3; Mir EO-23. Summary: STS-84 landed at 13:27 GMT with the crew of Precourt, Collins Eileen, Clervoy, Lu, Noriega, Kondakova and Linenger aboard..

• STS-103 Mission Status Report #01 - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Brown; Clervoy; Foale; Grunsfeld; Kelly, Scott; Nicollier; Smith, Steven. Program: STS. Flight: STS-103. Summary: In the final launch attempt available this year, Discovery and its seven astronauts blasted off tonight on the last human space flight of the 20th century to refurbish the Hubble Space Telescope.. Additional Details: here....

• STS-103 Mission Status Report #03 - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Brown; Clervoy; Foale; Kelly; Kelly, Mark; Kelly, Scott. Program: STS. Flight: STS-103. The seven members of the STS-103 crew of Discovery completed a day of preparation Monday for a Tuesday capture of the Hubble Space Telescope. During three days of space walks, Hubble's capability to conduct astronomical observations will be restored and some of its equipment upgraded. Additional Details: here....

• STS-103 Mission Status Report #02 - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Brown; Clervoy; Foale; Grunsfeld; Kelly, Scott; Nicollier; Smith, Steven. Program: STS. Flight: STS-103. Trailing the Hubble Space Telescope by about 3,700 nautical miles and closing, the seven Discovery astronauts were awakened at 9:50 a.m. CST today to the sounds of Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "Taking Care of Business." The wake-up call from Mission Control began the crew's first full day in orbit. Discovery is closing on the telescope at a rate of about 340 nautical miles with each hour and a half long orbit of Earth. Additional Details: here....

• STS-103 - . Call Sign: Discovery. Crew: Brown; Kelly, Scott; Smith, Steven; Grunsfeld; Foale; Nicollier; Clervoy. Payload: Discovery F27. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Brown; Kelly, Scott; Smith, Steven; Grunsfeld; Foale; Nicollier; Clervoy. Agency: NASA Houston. Manufacturer: North American. Program: STS. Class: Manned. Type: Manned spaceplane. Flight: STS-103. Spacecraft: Discovery. Duration: 7.97 days. Decay Date: 1999-12-28 . USAF Sat Cat: 25996 . COSPAR: 1999-069A. Apogee: 609 km (378 mi). Perigee: 563 km (349 mi). Inclination: 28.5000 deg. Period: 96.40 min. Hubble Space Telescope (HST) servicing mission SM-3A, delayed repeatedly by technical problems with the shuttle fleet after the near-disastrous previous launch. Finally launched after the last possible day to avoid Y2K computer problems; one spacewalk was cancelled so that the shuttle could return by December 28. Hubble was in a 591 km x 610 km x 28.5 deg orbit at launch. After separation of the external tank ET-101 the Orbiter was in a 56 km x 587 km x 28.5 deg transfer orbit. The OMS 2 burn at 0134 UTC raised the orbit to 313 km x 582 km. The payload bay contained:
  • Bay 1-2: External airlock/ODS
  • Bay 7-8: ORU Carrier (Spacelab pallet). Carried Hubble replacement spares arranged as follows: COPE protective enclosure with three RSU gyros, a new solid state recorder, and an S-band transmitter; LOPE enclosure with an HST-486 computer and voltage improvement kit; ASIPE enclosure with a spare HST-486 and spare RSU; FSIPE enclosure with a replacement FGS-2 fine guidance sensor; and NPE enclosure with New Outer Blanket Layer insulation.
  • Bay 11: Flight Servicing System (FSS). Contained the BAPS (Berthing and Positioning System) used to dock with the aft end of the Hubble Space Telescope.
  • Bay 8: APC carrier with foot restraint
  • Bay 12: APC carrier with HST foot retstraint

  Hubble was grabbed by the shuttle's robot arm at 0034 UTC on December 22. Following completion of repairs HST was released on December 25 at 2303 UTC. The deorbit burn at 2248 UTC on Dec 27 placed the orbiter in a 50 km x 616 km descent orbit. Discovery landed on runway 33 at Kennedy Space Center at 0001 UTC on December 28.

• STS-103 Mission Status Report #05 - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Brown; Clervoy; Grunsfeld; Smith, Steven. Program: STS. Flight: STS-103. Summary: After a 30-orbit chase, Discovery astronauts completed a successful rendezvous Tuesday evening with the Hubble Space Telescope, grappling it with the robotic arm and latching it into the orbiter's cargo bay.. Additional Details: here....

• STS-103 Mission Status Report #04 - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Brown; Clervoy; Kelly, Scott; Smith, Steven. Program: STS. Flight: STS-103. Discovery is on track for its rendezvous with the Hubble Space Telescope this afternoon, culminating in the planned capture of the 12.5-ton observatory at 6:41 p.m. CST. In recognition of today's activities, the seven astronauts aboard Discovery were awakened at 9:20 a.m. today to the song "Rendezvous" by Bruce Springsteen. Additional Details: here....

• STS-103 Mission Status Report #06 - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Clervoy; Foale; Grunsfeld; Nicollier; Smith, Steven. Program: STS. Flight: STS-103. Summary: With the Hubble Space Telescope securely latched in the payload bay, the astronauts board Discovery today will turn their attention to the primary objective of their flight -- restoring the capability of the 12.5-ton telescope to observe the universe.. Additional Details: here....

• STS-103 Mission Status Report #13 - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Brown; Clervoy; Foale; Grunsfeld; Nicollier; Smith, Steven. Program: STS. Flight: STS-103. Summary: Discovery's astronauts delivered a Christmas present to the world today, putting the Hubble Space Telescope back in service after 24 hours and 33 minutes of repairs and upgrades that make the orbital observatory more capable than ever.. Additional Details: here....

• STS-103 Mission Status Report #12 - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Brown; Clervoy; Foale; Grunsfeld; Nicollier; Smith, Steven. Program: STS. Flight: STS-103. Summary: Christmas Day onboard the Shuttle Discovery began with seasons greetings for Commander Curt Brown, as the crew awoke to Bing Crosby's "I'll Be Home for Christmas.". Additional Details: here....

• STS-103 Mission Status Report #17 - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Brown; Clervoy; Foale; Grunsfeld; Kelly, Scott; Nicollier; Ross; Smith, Steven. Program: STS. Flight: STS-103. Summary: The seven astronauts aboard Space Shuttle Discovery glided to a smooth landing at the Kennedy Space Center, wrapping up their eight-day mission to refurbish and repair the Hubble Space Telescope.. Additional Details: here....

• STS-103 Mission Status Report #16 - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Brown; Clervoy; Ross. Program: STS. Flight: STS-103. Summary: With promising weather forecast for the Kennedy Space Center, preparations are under way to bring the seven-member crew of Discovery home following a successful mission to refurbish and repair the Hubble Space Telescope.. Additional Details: here....

• Landing of STS-103 - . Return Crew: Brown; Kelly, Scott; Smith, Steven; Grunsfeld; Foale; Nicollier; Clervoy. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Brown; Kelly, Scott; Smith, Steven; Grunsfeld; Foale; Nicollier; Clervoy. Flight: STS-103. Summary: STS-103 landed at 00:01 GMT. .