Why did Thomas Pesquet go to space?

Thomas Pesquet did not leave for some romantic calling but after a competitive selection process. An aeronautical engineer who worked in satellite control and then as an airline pilot, he was chosen for the European class recruited in 2009, among several thousand candidates. Years of general training followed, then the wait for an assignment: a European astronaut does not decide on their own flight, they receive a seat negotiated by their agency with its partners.

An orbital stay is not a pleasure trip: the crew is the workforce of a laboratory. During his Proxima and then Alpha missions, Pesquet carried out experiments in biology, human physiology, materials science and fluid physics, prepared samples, operated the robotic arm to capture cargo vehicles, performed spacewalks to install solar panels and replace equipment, and spent a significant part of his time maintaining the complex: filters, pumps, computers, plumbing. During the second flight, he also commanded the Station.

The second motive is political and industrial. Each crewed flight justifies the European contribution to the program, keeps the skills of laboratories and manufacturers sharp, and serves as a showcase: the photographs and exchanges with schools have made it the agency's most effective science communication operation. Finally, these stays feed the medical data on which lunar missions will depend, where the same tasks will have to be repeated far further from any rescue.