Portrait Illustration 

Thomas Pesquet

Thomas was launched to the International Space Station on 17 November 2016 for his six-month Proxima mission, as a flight engineer for Expeditions 50 and 51. Thomas was the 10th astronaut from France to head into space after a nine-year gap since ESA astronaut Léopold Eyharts during Expedition 16. His busy mission was the first to see all four cargo vehicles in operation at the time (HTV, Cygnus, Dragon and Progress) travelling to the Space Station. He tracked and captured two of them using the Station's robotic arm. During his stay in space, he took part in over 50 experiments and the six crew members set a record for hours of time spent working on science. Other highlights of his mission included two spacewalks to maintain the Station: one to replace batteries on an electrical channel, and one to fix a cooling leak and service the robotic arm. He has the most spacewalk experience of the class of 2009.

Thomas returned to Earth on Soyuz MS-03 on 2 June 2017 after spending 196 days in space.

ESA @Thom_astro https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Astronauts/Thomas_Pesquet

My creative process

French aerospace engineer, pilot, and European Space Agency astronaut. Pesquet was selected by ESA as a candidate in May 2009, and he successfully completed his basic training in November 2010. In 2019 ESA Director General Johann-Dietrich Wörner tweeted that he had proposed Pesquet for the next ESA flight to the ISS, meaning he would be the third member of the 2009 ESA selection group to fly in space twice.