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Topic: Jacques Tiziou, space journalist (1939-2017)
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Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 02-08-2017 10:42 PM
From Jim Banke and J.L. Pickering comes word that French space journalist Jacques Tiziou died on Tuesday (Feb. 7). He was 77. A friend, contributor and member of this site, Jacques was recognized by NASA in 2011 as one of "The Chroniclers" of the space program, with his name added to an honor roll at the Kennedy Space Center press site. The following biography was prepared as part of that honor. At the age of 14, Jacques Tiziou began his career with stories in European publications about model airplanes, and quickly transitioned into rocketry when the United States and Soviet Union announced plans for Earth orbiting satellites. By age 17 his stories, three-dimentional drawings and photography had appeared in a number of European aviation magazines, including the famous French journal, "Les Ailes."By 1962, he had a college degree in hand as an aerospace engineer from ESTACA, the same university Igor Sikorsky graduated. But Tiziou decided that journalism, both written and broadcast, was his true calling. Upon graduation, he traveled to the United States to spend a month visiting NASA centers and space industry plants. On July 10, 1962, during his first visit to NASA's Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral, he covered the first launch of an active communications satellite, TELSTAR. The original TELSTAR was a part of a multinational agreement between AT&T, Bell Laboratory, NASA, the British General Post Office and the French National Post, Telegraph and Telecom Office, to develop experimental communications over the Atlantic Ocean. His visit to Langley allowed him to fly the first lunar landing simulator. In Houston, he walked in the fields among the cows where the Manned Spacecraft Center was to be built. And in St. Louis, McDonnell public relations executives put him on board the Gemini capsule a few hours before John Glenn, Scott Carpenter and "Deke" Slayton saw it for the first time. Throughout his career, he traveled to the many NASA centers and contractor plants but had a special affinity for Kennedy Space Center. He even established an office in Cocoa Beach, Fla., and installed his brother, Michel, from 1942-1994, as his resident representative of "Space-ialists." In true journalist tradition, the office was a very small apartment with dying window air conditioners. Transportation was a very old Volkswagon Beetle. In 1965, in addition to his work as a reporter, he became editor-in-chief of the first "Space Encyclopedia" for Editions Rombaldi. It was published in 1968 in several languages including English. A year later his book "A l’Assault de la Lune" was published. Several well known people in broadcasting, journalism, government and industry credited it with helping shape their careers, including Jean-Yves Le Gall who became chairman of Arianespace in 2002. At the end of the 1960s, Tiziou was covering only the Apollo program for numerous press organizations, including the only two French TV channels existing at the time. He lived in Cocoa Beach until the end of the Skylab program when contracts to cover the White House and Congress for French and Canadian news organizations mandated that he relocate, but he continued to travel to the cape to cover space news until his retirement and continued to return through the last space shuttle launch. American reporters call them "scoops" but to Tiziou, they are "premieres," and he had scores during his career. Yet many of them are not the kind ordinary journalists cite. Tiziou was the first to show the world, in Space Business Daily, the configuration of the first Soviet standard launch vehicle called Zemiorka, which began the family of vehicles including Vostok and Soyuz. His 3-dimensional drawing was used in Soviet publications as the official plan for the Vostok, as well as in western publications. He was the first European to ride a crawler-transporter carrying an Apollo rocket to the launch pad and the space shuttle prototype, Enterprise, to the pad for testing in 1980, and was the only European to drive the Lunar Rover One-G trainer at Kennedy. More than 100 astronauts have visited him in his home, and Joseph P. Allen was his best man at his wedding. He has been the official launch commentator for Ariane launches and was the only French citizen to do an official "wake-up" call to astronauts during the Skylab missions. He used the song "Come Back My Love," by Brigitte Bardot as part of his transmission. Disney World is another of Tiziou's favorite areas to cover because of its high tech approach to entertainment of its guests. There he was able to combine his interest in marine wildlife when he was one of the first divers in the living seas exhibit. He visited Disney World more than 100 times and dove with the sharks, porpoises and 6,000 other fish a number of times. Tiziou was elected to the French National Academy of Air and Space in 1993. |
mode1charlie Member Posts: 1169 From: Honolulu, HI Registered: Sep 2010
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posted 02-09-2017 12:05 AM
I met and had dinner with him at the ASF gala in 2012, and he was a lovely man who had great stories from back in the day.R.I.P., Jacques. |
Kite Member Posts: 831 From: Northampton UK Registered: Nov 2009
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posted 02-09-2017 01:33 AM
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Spoon Member Posts: 143 From: Cumbria, UK Registered: May 2006
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posted 02-09-2017 03:14 AM
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GACspaceguy Member Posts: 2476 From: Guyton, GA Registered: Jan 2006
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posted 02-09-2017 04:25 AM
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Wehaveliftoff Member Posts: 2343 From: Registered: Aug 2001
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posted 02-09-2017 04:35 AM
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1202 Alarm Member Posts: 436 From: Switzerland & France Registered: Nov 2003
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posted 02-09-2017 04:55 AM
Une voix indissociable de la conquête spatiale pour tous les francophones collés à leur poste de TV et de radio, un ton sérieux mais clair qui passionnait à la fois le novice et le féru de détails.Entre l’exubérant Albert Ducrocq et le médiatique Michel Chevalet, il fut sans doute le plus pointu et le plus intéressant des journalistes de la grande époque. J'ai eu la chance d'acquérir quelques objets de sa collection lorsqu'elle fut mise en vente aux enchères il y a quelques années, et il a eu la gentillesse, ensuite, de m'apporter des détails supplémentaires à l'historique de ces pièces. A voice inseparable from the conquest of space for all francophones stuck to their TV and radio stations, a serious but clear tone that excited both the novice and the enthusiast of details. Between the exuberant Albert Ducrocq and the media Michel Chevalet, he was undoubtedly the sharpest and most interesting journalist of the great era. I had the chance to acquire some items from his collection when it was auctioned a few years ago, and he was kind enough to bring me additional details these parts. |
James Brown Member Posts: 1287 From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA Registered: Jun 2000
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posted 02-09-2017 05:07 AM
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cspg Member Posts: 6210 From: Geneva, Switzerland Registered: May 2006
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posted 02-09-2017 06:00 AM
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Lunar rock nut Member Posts: 911 From: Oklahoma city, Oklahoma U.S.A. Registered: Feb 2007
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posted 02-09-2017 06:07 AM
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Joel Katzowitz Member Posts: 808 From: Marietta GA USA Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 02-09-2017 07:55 AM
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capoetc Member Posts: 2169 From: McKinney TX (USA) Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 02-09-2017 08:39 AM
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rgarner Member Posts: 1193 From: Shepperton, United Kingdom Registered: Mar 2012
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posted 02-09-2017 08:45 AM
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randy Member Posts: 2176 From: West Jordan, Utah USA Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 02-09-2017 09:28 AM
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jasonelam Member Posts: 691 From: Monticello, KY USA Registered: Mar 2007
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posted 02-09-2017 09:48 AM
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Gilbert Member Posts: 1328 From: Carrollton, GA USA Registered: Jan 2003
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posted 02-09-2017 10:29 AM
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dom Member Posts: 855 From: Registered: Aug 2001
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posted 02-09-2017 11:56 AM
Unfortunately I didn't read his stuff because it was in French but he had a good reputation as a space correspondent. His biggest scoop was getting the Soviets to finally reveal the Vostok rocket at the 1967 Paris Air Show. RIP. |
capcomespace Member Posts: 27 From: france Registered: Mar 2009
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posted 02-09-2017 12:38 PM
Un journaliste exceptionel a qui je dois ma passion pour l'astronautique. Il me restera en souvenir une lettre et un rendez vous manqué à Washington en novembre 2008...An exceptional journalist to whom I owe my passion for astronautics. I will remember a letter and a missed appointment at Washington in November 2008... |
David Carey Member Posts: 782 From: Registered: Mar 2009
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posted 02-09-2017 01:27 PM
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star51L Member Posts: 340 From: Vilano Beach, FL, USA Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 02-09-2017 04:45 PM
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Panther494 Member Posts: 402 From: London UK Registered: Jan 2013
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posted 02-09-2017 05:13 PM
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dss65 Member Posts: 1156 From: Sandpoint, ID, USA Registered: Mar 2003
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posted 02-09-2017 10:10 PM
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Marwin2 Member Posts: 139 From: Registered: Oct 2006
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posted 02-10-2017 02:54 AM
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Henk Boshuijer Member Posts: 450 From: Netherlands Registered: May 2007
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posted 02-10-2017 04:26 PM
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carl walker Member Posts: 360 From: Netherlands Registered: Feb 2006
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posted 02-10-2017 06:07 PM
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Go4Launch Member Posts: 542 From: Seminole, Fla. Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 02-10-2017 06:12 PM
I first became aware of Jacques in the 1970s as the man behind the Skylab wives patch. He loved to modify crew emblems to recognize backup crews and even astronaut children (ASTP comes to mind). Jacques was known for his hospitality and hosted parties at his Cocoa Beach home for astronauts, officials and others during the Apollo days. He had a great sense of humor and loved to pull pranks on crewmen and others. He also welcomed all new shuttle astronaut classes with special designs and stickers he created and often invited them to his home when they visited Washington, DC. And you never left Jacques' place without an assortment of special postcards he created highlighting his experiences. We became friends covering the early shuttle flights, which is when I found out he and his brother had taken thousands of great photos during Apollo, something JL was quite happy about. Many of his photos appear in our book, Moonshots and Snapshots, which have a more "art-sy" feel than NASA shots. (And stay tuned; we have an exiting new project in the works that will also drew from his collection!). Jacques was a real Renaissance Man in many ways, including being a very skilled aerospace technical artist. He was a close friend of many astronauts beginning with Mercury and truly loved all aspects of space exploration. But above all he was a bon vivant, an elegant gentlemen and a proud Frenchman. I will surely miss him. |
oly Member Posts: 905 From: Perth, Western Australia Registered: Apr 2015
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posted 02-13-2017 04:46 AM
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Ronpur Member Posts: 1211 From: Brandon, Fl Registered: May 2012
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posted 02-13-2017 07:35 AM
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Ken Havekotte Member Posts: 2915 From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 02-13-2017 07:36 AM
With the passing of Jacques Tiziou last week, I am at a complete lost of words.Like John and J.L., I first met Jacques during the 1970's while covering space shots here at the Cape. Throughout the decades of our "space careers," we got together as much as we could in working together on so many space projects, mainly though, with aerospace memorabilia, postal covers, and specializing in unique space cover issues. I am still at a lost of words and let me post more, when the time is right, about this veteran space journalist and dear friend. |
Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 02-13-2017 10:51 AM
Jacques' Facebook page was updated today with the following: Jacques' life came to a close on February 7. It was sudden, but he passed in his sleep without pain.His last days were rich, including visits to the stables that he loved in Rock Creek Park and dinners with friends old and new. His brief hospital stay and few days in a rehab facility included the most excellent care; a mini private concert with talented musicians, a new 3 year old friend, and more visits from good friends. He wished to be cremated immediately, and that we not grieve him too much but rather celebrate the close of his life with laughter and shared memories. If you have recollections that you'd like to share about Jacques, you can share them via comments here, or send them to his son via email. This page will be set to "memorial" status shortly. He left behind a prodigious collection of archives, relics and memorabilia of aerospace history. Some of those will be shared on Instagram and on Twitter (@TiziouSpaceHist) as we begin to sort through those possessions. A memorial/celebration of his life will be planned a bit further in the future, perhaps to mark the one year anniversary of his passing. |
music_space Member Posts: 1179 From: Canada Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 02-18-2017 10:55 AM
quote: Originally posted by 1202 Alarm: Une voix indissociable de la conquête spatiale pour tous les francophones collés à leur poste de TV et de radio...
Yes, Jacques was the voice of space during our youth here in French Canada and Québec too. And let's not forget his creation of the Skylab Wives patch – one of the most sought after, as I understand – along with its controversial navel! Read all about it here, including Tiziou's take on it, on Jacques Edwin van Oene and Erik van der Hoorn's spacepatches.nl.I met him once at a cS reunion in Cocoa Beach in the 2000s, an opportunity for which I'm grateful. |
Philip Member Posts: 5952 From: Brussels, Belgium Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 02-18-2017 11:01 AM
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