• 1959 – Member of the Organising Committee for the International Federation for Information Processing, representing the Swedish Society for Information Processing
• 1960s – Director of the UN Intergovernmental Bureau for Informatics, a transformation of the International Computation Centre in Rome established by UNESCO
• 1964-1967 - Director of ESDAC, ESOC’s European Space Data Centre (which became ESOC, the European Space Operations Centre, in 1967)

• 1930s? – Doctorate at the University of Paris
• 1941-1959 – Director of the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
• 1941-1972 – Professor in the Faculty of Sciences of Paris
• 1957-1962 – Director General of CNRS, the French National Centre for Scientific Research
• 1958-1960 – President of the Société astronomique de France
• 1962-1967 – President of CNES, the National Centre for Space Research
• 1967-1969 – President of the Bureau des Longitudes
• 1967-1971 – President of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics
• 1972-1974 – President of the International Council for Science

Coulomb was a was a French theoretical geophysicist, author, teacher, and international leader in geophysics and space science, whose work extended over all of geophysics. As President of the fledgling CNES, he was able to develop and expand to the point where it became a source of major European space ventures.

• 1971 – Graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace (ENSAE)
• 1970s-1999 – Various positions at the French space agency CNES, becoming Deputy Director General
• 1999-2004 – Vice President and Chief Technical Officer of Alcatel Space
• 2004-2010 – ESA Director of Technical and Quality Management and Head of ESTEC

On completing his studies in aeronautical engineering, Courtois joined the French space agency, CNES, taking part in negotiations with ESA and becoming an advocate of the European extension of the French Earth observation programme.  

In 1978 he was put in charge of the Spot 1 satellite and system, and in 1984 he was made Director of the Earth Observation and Reconnaissance Satellite Division, and head of the Spot-1 project, up to launch and operational orbit acceptance. 

In 1986 he was made Vice-Director in charge of project activities and development studies for CNES application programmes, including Earth observation, telecommunications, direct television and navigation systems. 

In 1989 Courtois was appointed Director of the Hermes Programme and of manned spaceflight at CNES. One year later he was appointed Director of the Hermes Programme at ESA, in a joint ESA-CNES team in Toulouse. His next post was Iin 1993 when he became Director of the Toulouse Space Centre. 

Courtois’s next appointment at CNES was Deputy Director General where he took over responsibility for launcher activity at CNES. 

In 1999 he left to take a job in industry and remained with Alcatel until he began his appointment with ESA in May 2004 as ESA Director of Technical and Quality Management and Head of ESTEC, a position he held until 2010. 

• 1967 - trained as a lawyer (doctoral thesis on space flight and international law), in 1968 joined Swiss government as expert on space affairs in the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs
• 1971-1980 - Permanent Swiss Delegate to ESRO and ESA
• 1980-1997 - Head of the Scientific Affairs Section of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and from 1988, the department's Advisor for European Space Cooperation
• 1998-2002 - Head of Swiss Space Office
• 1988-2002 - Head of the Swiss Delegation to ESA

Creola was the longest serving Council member in the history of ESRO and ESA and served as Chairman of many committees and boards: the Administration and Finance Committee from 1972 to 1975, the Legal Working Group on the ESA Convention in 1974 and 1975, the Industrial Policy Committee from 1975 to 1978, the Ariane Programme Board from 1978 to 1981, the Space Debris Working Group in 1989, the negotiations on the renewal of the Ariane production arrangement from 1989 to 1990 and the Long Term Space Policy Committee from 1993 to 2002. He also served a term as Vice-Chair of the ESA Council from 1987 to 1990.

See also: Interview with Peter Creola from the Oral History of Europe in Space Collection

• 1952 – Doctorate in physics from the École Normale Supérieure in Paris
• 1950s-60s – Professorship and teaching positions at the Université Pierre e Marie Curie (Paris IV) and the École Normale Supérieure (ENS)
• 1966-1976 – Various positions in French CNRS: Scientific Director for Physics (1966); Director General (1969); General Delegate for Scientific and Technical Research (1973)
• 1976-1984 – Head of Centre National d’études spatiales (CNES), the French Space Agency
• 1979-1984 – Founder and Chairman of the European Science Foundation
• 1981-1984 – Chairman of ESA Council
• 1984-1986 and 1988-1993 –Minister of Research in the French government
• 1994-1996 – Chairman of CERN Council
• 1998-2000 – President of the Fondation de France
• 2001-2003 – President of the French Academy of Science

An enduring theme throughout Curien’s long and varied career in science, politics and management was his promotion and development of a European scientific cooperation. As President of the Centre National d’études spatiales (CNES), he oversaw the development of the Ariane launcher, which successfully completed its maiden flight in December 1979 and the creation of Arianespace. Regarded as the father of the European space programme since that time, Curien also headed ESA as Chairman from 1981 to 1984, and his diplomatic skills played a critical role in the creation of ESA's flagship space science programme at the meeting of Council at Ministerial level in Rome in 1985. The landing site of the Huygens probe (on Saturn’s moon Titan) was named the Hubert Curien Memorial Station in honour of his contribution to European space.

See also: interview with Hubert Curien from the Oral History of Europe in Space Collection

• French aeronautical engineer, educated at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Aéronautique
• 1966-1970 – worked for CNES, responsible for the propulsion motor of the first stage of the Diamant B launcher
• 1970-1972 – seconded to ELDO as Project Manager on the Europa 3 project for a large new launcher
• 1973-1980 - rejoined CNES as Head of the Ariane programme (1973-1976) and later its Director (1976-1980)
• 1980-1990 - founder and Chairman/CEO of Arianespace
• 1982-1989 - Director General of CNES and, from 1985-1989, French Delegate to the ESA Council
• 1990 - joined the industrial group Matra as President and Director

After a period at ELDO in the early 1970s working on its Europa 3 project, D’Allest returned to CNES in 1973 as Head of the Ariane programme, the new heavy expendable launcher series which CNES directed for ELDO/ESA. He directed the Ariane programme from 1976, overseeing the first Ariane launch in 1979, and founded Arianespace in 1980 for the production and commercialisation of the Ariane launcher.

• 1951 - Research Associate in the Department of Electronics at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, research in cosmic radiation, plasma physics, magnetohydrodynamics and high current discharges
• 1963 - Scientific Assistant for COPERS
• 1968 - ESRO Assistant Director for Forecasts and Programmes, becoming Head of Space Missions Division in 1974
• 1976-1988 - various management roles within ESA: Deputy Director/Director of Planning, Head of the Coordination and Monitoring Office, Associate Director for Policy and Coordination

Dattner was recruited by COPERS in 1963 as Assistant to the Director General and to the Scientific Director and in 1968 he was appointed Assistant Director for Forecasts and Programmes in ESRO’s Directorate of Programmes and Planning. In April 1974 he became Head of Space Missions Division, on a temporary basis, a responsibility confirmed by the ESA Council. In 1976 he was nominated Deputy Director in charge of planning within ESA’s Directorate of Planning and Future Programmes, and was acting Director from May 1980. In February 1981 he became Head of the Coordination and Monitoring Office and from 1985 until his retirement in 1988 he was Associate Director for Policy and Coordination. Following the signature of the deposit agreement between ESA and the European University Institute, Dattner was also involved in the first inventory, made after the first transfer of ESA documentation to the Historical Archives of the European Union in Florence.

• 1937 – Joined the French Embassy in London
• 1947-1949 – French representative to the UN Atomic Energy Commission in the US
• 1950s – Member of the French National Committee for Nuclear Energy; Head of the Department for Atomic issues and Head of the Treaties Department for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• 1954 – One of the founding fathers of CERN, becoming France’s delegate to the CERN Council
• 1958-1960 – President of CERN Council
• 1963 – Member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, later becoming Deputy Chairman
• 1964-1969 – French Ambassador to Portugal
• 1970-1974 – Permanent Representative of France to NATO Council

After beginning his diplomatic career in London, in the post-war years, de Rose was sent to the US to serve on the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission, where he met European physicists, including Pierre Auger, and later embarked on a tour of Europe to appeal for the creation of the first European organisation for fundamental research. He presided over the 1951 intergovernmental conference, organised in Paris by Auger, at which the first resolution for the creation of a European Council for Nuclear Research was adopted. CERN was established by 12 European states in 1954. During his mandate as President of CERN Council he helped to prepare the laboratory’s extension into French territory. De Rose subsequently continued to pursue his diplomatic career and was well-known as a specialist in defence and nuclear matters.

• 1984 – Master’s degree in telecommunications and civil engineering from the Royal Military Academy, Brussels
• 1986 – On completion of pilot training with the Belgian Air Force, flew Mirage V aircraft
• 1991 – Completed the Staff Course at the Defence College in Brussels
• 1992 – Graduated from the Empire Test Pilot’s School in Boscombe Down, UK 
• 1992 – Appointed to the Test and Evaluation branch of the Belgian Air Force as a Test Pilot; became senior Test Pilot in 1996 and Squadron Commander of the 349th Fighter Squadron at Kleine Brogel Airbase, Belgium, in 1998
• 2000 – Joined the ESA Astronaut Corps, ESA Astronaut on two missions between 2002 and 2009
• 2012 – Head of ESA’s European Astronaut Centre, also becoming ESA ISS Programme Manager in 2020

During his time as a pilot for the Belgian Air Force, De Winne logged more than 2300 hours flying time on several high-performance aircraft, including the Mirage, F16, Jaguar and Tornado.

In January 2000, he joined ESA’s Astronaut Corps based at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, providing technical support for the X38 Crew Return Vehicle project.

From 30 October to 10 November 2002, De Winne flew the Odissea mission, a support flight to the International Space Station. He served as a flight engineer on the updated Soyuz TMA spacecraft on launch, and on a Soyuz TM for reentry. 

From 27 May to 1 December 2009 De Winne was sent on the Oasiss mission, a long-duration flight to the International Space Station. As part of Expedition 21 Frank became the first European commander of the orbital outpost. He was also Soyuz TMA-15 and Expedition 20 flight engineer.

De Winne became Head of ESA’s European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany in August 2012. Since 2017, he has been in charge of International Space Station (ISS) operations at ESA, and in 2020 became ESA’s ISS Programme Manager.

• Educated at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris (1956), Ecole d’Application in Saumur (1958), Ecole Nationale Supérieure de l’Armement at Arcueil (1959-1961)
• 1961-1964 – Military engineer at Arcueil and Colomb-Bechar
• 1964-1967 – Chief Engineer at Norbert Beyrard
• 1967-1973 – Head of Department, Deputy Director and Director (1971-1973) of the CNES Guiana Space Centre
• 1971 – INSEAD Advanced Management Program at Stanford University (USA)
• 1973-1975 – French Chief Executive of the Franco-German Symphonie satellite programme
• 1975-1978 – ESA’s Director of Spacelab
• 1979-1985 – Director General of Satel Conseil
• 1985-1990 – Director of the Hermes Programme at Aerospatiale
• 1991-1999 – Deputy Director General of Alcatel Espace (1991-1999); Consulting Engineer in Space Systems (1999)

See also: Interview with Bernard Deloffre from the Oral History of Europe in Space Collection