Editing CNES (section)

== History ==
CNES was established under President [[Charles de Gaulle]] in 1961. It is the world's third oldest space agency, after the [[Soviet space program]] (Russia), and [[NASA]] (United States). CNES was responsible for the training of French astronauts, until the last active CNES astronauts transferred to the [[European Space Agency]] in 2001.

{{asof|2015|01}}, CNES is working with Germany and a few other governments to start a modest research effort with the hope to propose a [[Liquid oxygen|LOX]]/[[liquid methane|methane]] [[reusable launch vehicle]] by mid-2015.  If built, flight testing would likely not start before approximately 2026. The design objective is to reduce both the cost and duration of reusable vehicle refurbishment, and is partially motivated by the [[Space launch market competition|pressure of lower-cost competitive options]] with newer technological capabilities not found in the [[Ariane 6]].<ref name="deselding20150105">
{{cite news |last1=de Selding|first1=Peter B.|title=CNES proposal |url=https://twitter.com/pbdes/status/552119769772871680 |access-date=6 January 2015 |work=de Selding is a journalist for Space News |date=5 January 2015 }}</ref><ref name="sn20150105">
{{cite news |last1=de Selding|first1=Peter B. |title=With Eye on SpaceX, CNES Begins Work on Reusable Rocket Stage |url=http://spacenews.com/with-eye-on-spacex-cnes-begins-work-on-reusable-rocket-stage/ |access-date=6 January 2015 |work=SpaceNews |date=5 January 2015 }}</ref>

=== Timeline ===
[[Image:CNES Facility in Toulouse France.jpg|thumb|CNES facility at the [[Toulouse Space Centre]] ]]
* 1947: [[Centre interarmées d'essais d'engins spéciaux]] missile range and launch facility built for the [[French Armed Forces|French military]] near [[Hammaguir]] in [[French Algeria]].<ref name="colloque">[[Maurice Vaïsse]] (dir.), ''La IV<sup>th</sup> République face aux problèmes d'armement'', proceedings of the conference held on 29 and 30 September 1997 at the Military Academy of the Center for Defense of studying history, ed. Association pour le développement et la diffusion de l'information militaire (ADDIM), Paris, 1998, p.561 {{ISBN|2-907341-63-4}}, 648 pages</ref>
* 1961: CNES was founded with the headquarter in Paris. [[Pierre Victor Auger|Pierre Auger]] was the first president and [[Robert Aubinière]] the first director general.<ref name=About>{{cite web|title=About CNES|url=https://cnes.fr/en/web/CNES-en/3773-about-cnes.php|website=CNES|date=23 April 2015|access-date=27 April 2018}}</ref>
* 1962: First [[Bérénice (rocket)|Bérénice]] rocket launched.<ref name=Astronautix />
* 1963: CNES became the first—and only—space agency to successfully launch [[Félicette|a cat]] into space.<ref name="Kitty">{{cite book|last1=Burgess|first1=Colin|last2=Dubbs|first2=Chris|title=Animals in Space: From Research Rockets to the Space Shuttle|date=2007|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|location=Berlin|isbn=978-0-387-36053-9|pages=227–228|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sv_plWzWdeoC&pg=PA220}}</ref>
* 1964: [[Diamant]] Launch Vehicle introduced.<ref name="Astronautix">{{cite web|last1=Wade|first1=Mark|title=Hammaguira|url=http://www.astronautix.com/h/hammaguira.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160907125943/http://www.astronautix.com/h/hammaguira.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 7, 2016|website=Astronautix}}</ref>
* 1965: First French [[satellite]] put in orbit.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.univ-perp.fr/fuseurop/diaman_e.htm |title=Diamant launchers |access-date=2006-06-20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061001224244/http://www.univ-perp.fr/fuseurop/diaman_e.htm |archive-date=2006-10-01 }}</ref> <!-- date: November 26, 1965, launch vehicle: Diamant A and launch site: Hammaguir in Algeria -->
* 1967: Hammaguir range closed.<ref name=Astronautix />
* 1968: [[Toulouse Space Centre]] completed.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Shah|first1=Kierann|title=A Visit to Toulouse: France's Space Capital|url=https://spacecentre.co.uk/blog-post/visit-french-space-capital/|access-date=27 April 2018|work=National Space Centre Blog|publisher=National Space Centre|date=May 27, 2016}}</ref>
* 1969: [[Guiana Space Centre]] in [[French Guiana]] completed.<ref name=About />
* 1973: [[Évry, Essonne|Évry]] Space Centre completed.<ref>"[http://www.arianespace.com/about-us/contact-us.asp Contact us]." [[Arianespace]]. Retrieved on 24 September 2009.</ref>
* 1982: [[Jean-Loup Chrétien]] became the first French astronaut in space.
* 1986: [[SPOT (satellite)|SPOT]] satellite mission brought about high-resolution civil Earth imaging.
* 2001: [[Jason-1]], the joint satellite mission between CNES and [[NASA]], was launched.
* 2014: [[E-CORCE]] [[Earth observation satellite]] launched<ref>{{cite web|title=E-CORCE|url=https://entreprises.cnes.fr/en/web/CNES-fr/11803-e-corce.php|publisher=CNES|date=23 March 2015}}</ref>
* 2024: [[Space Variable Objects Monitor]] launched<ref name="offsite">{{cite web |url=https://www.svom.eu/en/home/ |access-date=12 June 2024 |title=Svom }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Xin |first=Ling |date=22 June 2024 |title=China-France satellite launched to monitor most powerful explosions in space |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3267503/china-france-satellite-launched-monitor-most-powerful-explosions-space |work=South China Morning Post |access-date=22 June 2024}}</ref>