The general public first got to know her when she was dressed in her astronaut suit and launched aboard a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur. This second event welcomes the first Frenchwoman—and also the first European woman—to have gone into space: Claudie Haigneré. Possessing unparalleled physical endurance that earned the admiration of her fellow astronauts, she—who as a child had dreamed of becoming a gym teacher—ultimately chose medicine and completed a dissertation in neuroscience. Recruited in 1985 by the CNES (the French space agency) for her scientific expertise, she was the only woman selected out of a thousand candidates aspiring to explore space. Upon her return to Earth, she served as Minister Delegate for Research and New Technologies (2002–2005), President of Universcience (2010–2015), and is a member of the Academy of Technologies.