February 10, 2017

CNES pays tribute to aerospace journalist Jacques Tiziou

CNES honours the memory and stellar career of Jacques Tiziou, a peerless aerospace journalist specializing in human spaceflight with a passion for launch systems, who died this week.

Jacques Tiziou died on Monday 6 February in Washington at the age of 77. He began his career as a free-lance journalist when only 18. He graduated in aerospace engineering from the ESTACA aeronautical and automotive engineering school in 1962, after which he specialized in space, pursuing his passion for the Kennedy Space Centre and reporting on the Apollo Moon programme. In a career spanning over 60 years, he contributed to more than 100 publications, was the author of the famous book À l’assaut de la Lune (Stock), filed thousands of TV and radio reports, and provided photos for more than 300 publications. He was a winner of the Plume d’Argent and Plume d’Or French press awards. He retired in 2003 after 30 years in the United States, but remained active.

On behalf of the agency’s personnel, CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall made this statement: “It is with great sorrow that everyone at CNES heard the very sad news of the passing away of Jacques Tiziou. Throughout his very long career, he honoured space in so many ways, from the first cut-away of the Russian Semyorka launcher to the first encyclopaedia of space in French (published by Rombaldi). We all had the opportunity to appreciate his fine work as a journalist, for which we shall always be most grateful to him. Personally, I was not yet 10 years old when his cult book À l’assaut de la Lune fired me with a passion for space. I would later meet Jacques on many occasions at launch bases around the world and we became friends. We all realize just how much the space community and the general public owe him. Our deepest sympathies go to his family, friends and journalist colleagues.”

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Contacts
Pascale Bresson    Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 75 39    pascale.bresson@cnes.fr
Fabienne Lissak    Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 78 74    fabienne.lissak@cnes.fr
Press office    Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 76 88    cnes-presse@cnes.fr