Space: Thomas Pesquet will become the first French captain of a spaceship

At 43, Thomas Pesquet will become the first French captain of a spaceship. It is due to join the International Space Station (ISS) in early April. Beyond the honors, it is an additional workload that awaits him. “It’s going to be a little more responsibility: take care less of my own activities and take care of other people’s activities a little more, try to make everything work well, talk to the control center, understand, do pass messages, try to put oil in the cogs, unpin conflicts before they start. If ever we had an emergency, there is only one who has it. decision-making power, it is the captain “, specifies Thomas Pesquet.

The astronaut will be accompanied by a Japanese, an American and an American. The mission will last six months and will be punctuated by outings and hundreds of scientific missions, including some outside. “We know that it will be difficult, that it will hurt a little, a little scared, that our loved ones will be missed”, says Thomas Pesquet. The astronaut aims… for the moon! “The ISS is not an end in itself, it is really a step on the road to exploration. It is first and foremost the ISS which allows us to be in a position to go and say to ourselves: we are going to make a base on the Moon, we will have men or women permanently in space, to live there, to do a scientific program “, concludes Thomas Pesquet.