Claude Nicollier

Claude Nicollier
Nicollier in 1999
Born (1944-09-02) 2 September 1944 (age 80)
Vevey, Switzerland
StatusRetired from ESA
NationalitySwiss
Occupation(s)Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland
Space career
ESA astronaut
Rank Captain, Swiss Air Force
Time in space
42d 12h 05min
Selection1978 ESA Group
MissionsSTS-46, STS-61, STS-75, STS-103
Mission insignia

Claude Nicollier (born 2 September 1944) is the first astronaut from Switzerland. He has flown on four Space Shuttle missions. His first spaceflight (STS-46) was in 1992, and his final spaceflight (STS-103) was in 1999. He took part in two servicing missions to the Hubble Space Telescope (called STS-61 and STS-103). During his final spaceflight he participated in a spacewalk, becoming the first European Space Agency astronaut to do so during a Space Shuttle mission (previous ESA astronauts conducted spacewalks aboard Mir, see List of spacewalks and moonwalks 1965–1999). In 2000 he was assigned to the Astronaut Office Extravehicular Activity Branch, while maintaining a position as Lead ESA Astronaut in Houston. Nicollier retired from ESA in April 2007.

He was appointed full professor of Spatial Technology at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne on 28 March 2007.[1]

He was an expert board member of Swiss Space Systems, until the company's dissolution.[2]

  1. ^ EPFL press release: Claude Nicollier nommé professeur ordinaire de technologies spatiales, 28 March 2007.
  2. ^ "About us". Swiss Space Systems. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.