The dream machine of the conquest of space always works, whatever its form.
All over the planet, eyes will be on the ISS and our national champion, Thomas Pesquet.
Americans are used to saying that their astronauts write the history of their country.
Their greatest heroes are called Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins, the three members of the Apollo 11 mission which landed on the moon in 1969. Revenge on the Soviets, who, in 1961, had sent Gagarin, the first man to perform a flight in space.
A hero !
All French people remember our astronauts, Jean-Loup Chrétien, Patrick Baudry or Claudie Haigneré. The most popular by far is Thomas Pesquet, who is loved even more than Zidane or Mbappé, according to the annual “Sunday Journal” poll. His youth (he is 43 years old), his spontaneity, his disarming simplicity make him a national hero, despite himself. You have to reread his interview in our magazine from last weekend. He simply recalls that for takeoff this Friday, he will have to "get on a missile" which carries 565 t of fuel. He is aware of the risk (“I'm not smart but I trust the system”). He loves science and relies on it. We tell ourselves that he would not be the type to refuse an AstraZeneca vaccine.
Pesquet arouses admiration because he seems to combine all the qualities: courage, competence, physical form and a hardened steel mind. In these times of Covid, the Terrans that we are understand better. You have to accept being confined for six months in the ISS where exhausting work awaits the crew. Carry out 200 scientific experiments, some of which relate to cancer research. And to the cranky who find these adventures very expensive when there is so much to do here on earth, the answer is common sense. Manned flights cost Europeans 650 million euros per year. The PSG budget is 540 million. Here is an astronaut who keeps his feet on the ground.
