Michel Bignier (1926-2006) was a French armaments engineer and one of the pioneers of the French space effort. A graduate of the École polytechnique (1947) trained in aeronautics and telecommunications, from 1957 he helped set up the French space programme at the Hammaguir test range. On the creation of CNES in 1962 he headed its international affairs, becoming the agency's director-general in 1972. He joined the European Space Agency in 1976 to lead the Spacelab programme and in 1980, on the eve of the Shuttle's first flight, took charge of ESA's Space Transportation Systems directorate. He wrote the introduction to the book's first part.