Alain Bombard was a French biologist, physician and politician famous for sailing in a small boat across the Atlantic Ocean without provision. He theorized that a human being could very well survive the trip across the ocean without provisions and decided to test his theory himself in order to save thousands of lives of people lost at sea.

Zodiac Aerospace was a French aerospace group founded in 1896 that supplied systems and equipment for aircraft. In October 2018, it was acquired by French aerospace and defense company Safran. At the time of acquisition, it was one of the oldest aerospace groups known to exist.