Thomas Pesquet

Thomas Gautier Pesquet (born 27 February 1978) is a French aerospace engineer, pilot, European Space Agency astronaut, actor and writer.

Pesquet graduated from the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen, France, in 1996.

He has logged more than 2000 hours flying time on various commercial airliners, and has qualified as a type-rating flight instructor on the A320, and as a Crew Resource Management instructor.

In 2001, he received a master's degree from the École nationale supérieure de l'aéronautique et de l'espace in Toulouse, France, majoring in space systems and space vehicle mechanics.

He spent his final year before graduation at the École Polytechnique de Montréal, Canada, as an exchange student on the Aeronautics and Space Master.

From October 2001, Pesquet worked as a spacecraft dynamics engineer on remote sensing missions for GMV, S.A. in Madrid, Spain.

Between 2002 and 2004, Pesquet worked at the French space agency, CNES, as a research engineer on space missions autonomy.

He also carried out various studies on future European ground segment design and European space technology harmonization.

From late 2002, he was a representative of CNES at CCSDS, the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems, working on the topic of cross-support between international space agencies.

A private pilot, he was selected in 2004 for Air France's flight training programme.

Pesquet graduated from the Air France flight school in 2006.

This led to an Airline Transport Pilot License-Instrument Rating (ATPL-IR).

He speaks French, English, Spanish, Chinese, German and Russian, and is a member of the French Aeronautics and Astronautics Association (3AF), and of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

He went on to become a commercial pilot for the French airline, where he started flying the Airbus A320 in 2006.

Pesquet was selected by ESA as a candidate in May 2009, and he successfully completed his basic training in November 2010.

Pesquet was selected as a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut in May 2009.

He joined ESA in September 2009 and successfully completed Astronaut Basic Training in November 2010.

Pesquet is the youngest member of the European Astronaut Corps, and the last of the ESA astronaut class of 2009 to arrive in space.

He has also taken part in ESA's CAVES underground course in 2011 and NASA's SEATEST II mission in 2013, furthering his experience in exploration.

On 10 June 2014, NASA announced that Pesquet would serve as an aquanaut aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory during the NEEMO 18 undersea exploration mission, which began on 21 July 2014 and lasted nine days.

In 2014, Pesquet was chosen by ESA for a six-month mission to the International Space Station starting in November 2016.

He was also the backup to ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen who flew to the International Space Station on a 10-day flight in September 2015.

From November 2016 to June 2017, Pesquet was part of Expedition 50 and Expedition 51 as a flight engineer.

Pesquet returned to space in April 2021 on board the SpaceX Crew Dragon for a second six-month stay on the ISS.

Pesquet was born in Rouen, France and considers Dieppe his hometown.

He is the younger of two brothers.

Pesquet is a black belt in judo and lists basketball, jogging, swimming and squash as his favourite sports.

He is an outdoor and adventure activities enthusiast, and enjoys mountain biking, kite surfing, sailing, skiing and mountaineering.

He also has extensive experience with, and holds advanced licenses in, both scuba diving and parachuting.

His other interests include travelling, playing the saxophone and reading.

He is a supporter of the French football team, as well as the French rugby team and the Stade Toulousain.

Pesquet launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome onboard Soyuz MS-03 on November 17, 2016.

He spent six months on the International Space Station as part of Expedition 50/51.

Arriving at the ISS on November 19, 2016, he was the first French astronaut since Léopold Eyharts helped install the Columbus European laboratory module during Expedition 16.

His arrival marked the beginning of the European Proxima mission.

The Proxima mission included 50 science experiments for ESA and CNES.

The mission was named after Proxima Centauri, continuing the French astronauts' tradition of naming the missions after stars and constellations.

The X inside the logo symbolizes that Pesquet is the tenth French astronaut as well as the unknown.

The Proxima mission name was chosen in a competition, with the winning name given by 13-year-old Samuel Planas from Toulouse, France.

In 2018, Pesquet gained his Airbus A310 type rating and is qualified as a Novespace Zero-G aircraft pilot.