Jean-Pierre Haigneré was born in Paris, France, and joined the French Air Force, where he trained as a test pilot.[1]
He flew on two missions to the Mir space station in 1993 and 1999. The Mir Perseus (Mir EO-27) long-duration mission (186 days) in 1999 also included an EVA.[2]
In addition to his duties at the European Space Agency, Jean-Pierre Haigneré is also involved in a European space tourism initiative, the Astronaute Club Européen (ACE), which he co-founded with Alain Dupas and Laurent Gathier.[3] He is credited with taking the first picture of the shadow of a Solar eclipse from space. He took this during the Mir Perseus (Mir EO-27) mission.