"Why Me?" - From France Catherine Laplace Builhe

I am aware that many of my friends know Catherine already or follow one of her many amazing streams of information. But maybe you don't know what she does for a living?! I wanted to get her introduced just to show what a variety of people follow not only me, but other Space Missions. Collectively we share information, our excitement and learn - and there is plenty for me to learn on my journey. And there are times when I go through Catherine's huge amount of information and images and get thankful for having the information on my finger (well...) tips!


Catherine is from France - and our first European person on "Why Me?". 

When you are not enjoying Social Media, what do you do as a profession? 
I am a consultant for Aerospace Tourism in Paris...I work as a freelancer.
My job is to find Russian travel agencies specializing for sale trips to the French tourists eager to get under the skin of a cosmonaut before takeoff!
Custom Travels as :


- Crew training for space tourists who get ready to participate in short-time manned missions on Russian space ships "Soyuz", and on other prospective space crafts built for implementation of space orbital or suborbital flights;

- Zero Gravity with "IL-76 MDK" wide-body airplane who is a unique flying laboratory, which can create short-term weightless conditions

- Hydrospace in the swimming pool for simulating the extra-vehicular activity conditions.

- Centrifuge with a method of semi-natural simulation of linear accelerations in the centrifuges with a mobile cab for simulation of G-loads, originating in a space flight.

- Simulators at the Yuri Gagarin Russian State Scientific-Research and Test Center of Cosmonaut Training. To acquire actual skills on a space vehicle control by means of unique hardware and facilities and learn a lot about the space vehicle's docking process. Learning also fundamentals of space navigation. 

- And of course the visit the Baikonur launch site to witness a space launch vehicle, as well as to Participate in pre-launch activities.!!! 

What has made space exploration such an interesting subject for you?
Apollo 11! when i was little girl and I saw the first images in black and white of first steps on the moon, it was a shock! I wanted to be an astronaut or fighter pilot !! ( But in France ..to be astronaut is not a job lol!) and Valentina Terechkova

In your opinion what are the 3 most amazing achievements/results of space exploration? 
The best achievements have been Hubble Space Telescope, Voyager, and all manned spaceflight.. 

Preparing for Flight...Attired in training versions of their shuttle launch and entry suits, STS-133 commander Steve Lindsey, pilot Eric Boe (background), and mission specialists Tim Kopra (right foreground) and Alvin Drew participate in a simulation exercise in the motion-base shuttle mission simulator in the Jake Garn Simulation and Training Facility at NASA's Johnson Space Center.
Image Credit: NASA/JSC James Blair

Is there a current mission (or missions) you follow regularly? If so, what mission(s)? 
I follow all space shuttle flights from launch to landing and each Soyuz launch, docking, undocking and landing. I follow also the Kepler Mission, Chandra, Mars500, LRO, SDO, Wise, Voyager, Cassini and The little Mars Rover :)) 


Why are you friends of this Not-Every-Day-Run-Of-The-Mill rubber chicken? 
I am friend with rubber chicken because I like the Sun and she has always some amazing topics about that on her wall! And she is funny!:)) 

What is your advice to today's youth? 
The same advice that John Glenn had:
“The most important thing we can do is inspire young minds and to advance the kind of science, math and technology education that will help youngsters take us to the next phase of space travel.”
John Glenn 



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