Barely returned to Earth, the French astronaut Thomas Pesquet takes off again… for the Central African Republic.
The astronaut is at the controls of a humanitarian plane which took off on Wednesday from Le Bourget to the central African country.
"I didn't just want to give my image, or send messages of support, but to do something more," he said at a press conference organized before takeoff by the NGO Aviation sans Frontières.
This is not a #plane, it's an essential link in #humanitarian action.
Good flight to this exceptional crew!
pic.twitter.com/mXLHPZSxrv
– Aviation Without Borders (@ONG_ASF) April 13, 2022
Thomas Pesquet, who returned from his second mission aboard the International Space Station in November, uses his training as an airline pilot for this association, of which he is a sponsor.
Aviation sans Frontières delivers food and medicine and carries out medical evacuations for 120 NGOs and international organizations.
"The plane makes it possible to get rid of rutted bush tracks and
highway robbers
", bandits who attack motorists in Africa, says Jean-Yves Grosse, head of air operations for Aviation Sans Frontières.
The plane the astronaut is piloting, a brand new Cessna Grand Caravan, was ferried in February from Kansas, United States.
In space, weakened partnerships with Russia
The Frenchman is one of the pilots in charge of bringing him to a safe port, even if the NGO did not specify whether he would go to the end of the journey.
Thomas Pesquet still needs a few flight hours to be fully qualified on the aircraft - he is therefore not the captain - and to be able to carry out missions in Bangui, in the Central African Republic, or in Bunia, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the two countries where Aviation sans Frontières deploys its planes.
"I would love to go out on the pitch, because that's really where I feel useful," said Thomas Pesquet shortly before his departure.
Earlier, he had worried about the long-term consequences of the war in Ukraine on space cooperation with Russia.
Read alsoWar in Ukraine: in space, weakened partnerships with Russia
“We can clearly see that we are not committing to the cooperation of tomorrow and, unfortunately, in the space sector, projects are developed in 5, 10, 15 years, so the consequences of what is happening at the moment will be seen in a few years ;
they won't be positive, that's for sure,” he lamented.