Prof. Claude Nicollier
About Prof. Claude Nicollier
Claude Nicollier, originally trained as an astrophysicist and a fighter pilot in the Swiss Air Force, was selected as a member of the first group of ESA astronauts in 1978. He joined the 1980 class of NASA astronauts for Space Shuttle training at the Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, where he was stationed until September 2005. From 1996 to 1998, he was Head of the Astronaut Office Robotics Branch. From 2000 on, he was a member of the Astronaut Office Extravehicular Activity Branch, while maintaining a position as Lead ESA astronaut in Houston. Claude retired from ESA in 2007, and is currently Honorary Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), where he teaches a course on Space Mission Design and Operations, and provides assistance to students on space-related projects. He was also involved in the Solar Impulse solar-powered aircraft project as Head of Flight Test and member of the Safety Review Board. Spaceflight experience
Claude was a crewmember on four Space Shuttle flights: STS-46 in 1992 (Eureca deployment and first test of a Tethered Satellite System), STS-61 in 1993 (first servicing mission of the Hubble Space Telescope), STS-75 in 1996 (second flight of Tethered Satellite System, and microgravity investigations), and STS-103 in 1999 (third Hubble servicing mission ). He logged more than 1000 hours in space, including a spacewalk lasting more than eight hours to install new equipment on Hubble during STS-103.