Entered the French “Ecole Polytechnique (Paris)” in 1982. Graduated as “Ingénieur Polytechnicien” (engineering degree) in 1985. Received his Test Pilot Licence in 1993 from the Ecole du Personnel Navigant d’Essais et de Réception (EPNER), the French Test Pilot School at Istres Air Force Base. Received his Airline Pilot Certificate in 1995. Philippe Perrin is Colonel with the French Air Force.
Prior to graduating from the Ecole Polytechnique, Perrin Philippe completed military duty in the French Navy, where he was trained in ship piloting and navigation, and spent 6 months at sea in the Indian Ocean. Following Ecole Polytechnique, he entered the French Air Force in 1985, was awarded his pilot’s wings in 1986, and assigned to the 33^rd Reconnaissance Wing at Strasbourg Air Force Base (1987-1991). He flew the Mirage F1 CR and made detachments in Africa and Saudi Arabia. Upon graduating from EPNER, the French Test Pilot School, he worked on a variety of test programs while assigned to the Bretigny Test Center. In 1992, he was temporarily detached to the French Space Agency (CNES) and sent to Star City, Russia, where he trained for two months. In 1993, he reported to the 2^nd Air Defense Wing of Dijon Air Force Base as Senior Operations Officer (Operation Southern Watch). In 1995, he returned to the Bretigny Test Center, as Chief Pilot Deputy, in charge of the development of the Mirage 2000-5.
He was from 61 European candidates for the ESA 1991 selection one of six French candidates (and on the shortlist of 25 candidate applicants), but not selected then.
In July 1996, CNES announced his selection as an Astronaut and assigned him to attend NASA’s Astronaut Candidate Training in Houston, Texas. From August 1996 Philippe Perrin reported to the Johnson Space Center. Having completed two years of training and evaluation, he was qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist. Philippe Perrin was initially assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Spacecraft Systems/Operations Branch and worked on man-machine interface issues in different programs: Shuttle upgrade, X38 and ATV.
Philippe Perrin has flown 26 combat missions and has logged over 3000 flying hours in over 30 types of planes (from jet fighters to Airbus).
In December 2002, Philippe Perrin joined the ESA European Astronaut Corps, whose homebase is the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) located in Cologne, Germany. After completion of a familiarization period, he will be assigned to provide engineering support to the ESA ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) project at the ATV Control Center in Toulouse.
In May 2004, he became Experimental Test Pilot with Airbus Industrie in Toulouse.
He enjoys scuba diving, skiing, sailing, hiking, travel, the history of sciences.