First French Woman To Go Into Space

France’s first woman in space will blast off in July with two Russian cosmonauts, headed for the Mir space station.

Claudie Andre-Deshays, a 39-year-old scientist, will spend two weeks in orbit, studying how space affects neurological and cardiovascular systems and the ability of sea snails to lay eggs.

Andre-Deshays will lift off July 6, along with cosmonauts Gennady Manakov and Pavel Vinogradov, who are replacing three Russians who have been on Mir for six months.

Andre-Deshays and the three returning astronauts are to leave Mir on July 22.

France has sent six men - “spationauts,” they’re called in French - into space either through the Russian space program or aboard NASA shuttles.