Director of Strategy

Born 1962, Jean-Marc Astorg is a graduate of the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures engineering school (1985).

He began his career in 1985 at CNES’s Launch Vehicles Directorate (DLA), where he occupied various management positions in the field of European launchers, alternating between planning and development responsibilities.

From 1991 to 1998, he notably led studies paving the way for the new Ariane 5 ECA and Vega light launcher programmes.

In 1998, he was made Project Manager for Ariane 5’s new ESC-A upper cryogenic stage, leading its development through to qualification. This stage boosted Ariane 5’s lift capacity into geostationary transfer orbit to more than 3 tonnes.

From 2003 to 2011, he was in charge of the Soyuz in Guiana project from its implementation through to the successful first Soyuz flight from the Guiana Space Centre in October 2011.

In November 2011, Jean-Marc Astorg was appointed CNES’s Director of Procurement, Sales and Legal Affairs, and Director of Intellectual Property. In this post, he negotiated contractual and intellectual property agreements with space industry contractors. He was also CNES’s mediator for relations with SMEs.

On 7 April 2015, he took over as Director of Launch Vehicles.

Since 3 January 2022, Jean-Marc Astorg is Director of Strategy.

Jean-Marc Astorg is a Knight of the National Order of Merit.