Claudie Haigneré

The first European woman in the space

André-Deshays (better known as Claudie Haigneré) was born 1957

in a small town in France (Le Cruesot).
She’s a French politician, but she’s famous because she was the
first European woman to be sent in the space, in 1996.
She always wanted to become an astronaut, and this dream cost
her a lot of hours spent with studying and commitment, also facing the society which
didn’t believe in her and discriminated her for being woman. Nobody thought that
she could become an astronaut.
However, against everything and everybody, she got the graduation in medicine at
only 25 years old! She had already showed who she was!
After the graduation she joined the international space mission “Sojuz TM-24”,
which brought her and other two male astronauts in the space.
Her dream came reality, and she was the first European woman to be sent in the
space.
During the permanence in the space, on board of the Russian space station “Mir”, she
met Jean-Pierre Haigneré, who later became her husband.
Once returned, in 2002 she became the French minister of research until 2004.
Nowadays she’s a fighter for the women’s rights and she’s making a campaign in
favour of women, who can’t get access to education, therefore I think she’s a woman
who’s making the difference in our world.