Despite the restrictive sanitary measures, we could guess the smiles behind the masks. This Friday afternoon, January 21, at the Toulouse space center (CNES, National Center for Space Studies), the members of the CADMOS team (Centre for the development of activities in microgravity and space missions) received the visit of Thomas Pesquet. The French astronaut came to review the scientific experiments prepared and monitored here for his Alpha mission. And he did not hide his pleasure.

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“In the Station, everything is remote, we have a voice on the phone, we don’t necessarily put on our face and the pandemic had created distance in the preparation. Being here today is important because I need to finish the exchanges so that these experiences continue to live, ”he explained in the preamble.

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“This visit is truly a pleasure for everyone. We know that his time is limited but we see that he is happy to be there and that it is important for him. We worked very hard for two years to make the experiences of his mission meaningful and this is the return he made of it: the whole world envies the program that we are able to set up and manage when there is has a French astronaut in space,” says Sébastien Rouquette, experiment development manager for the Alpha mission.

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Thomas Pesquet has again accumulated popularity points with his Toulouse collaborators. “Thomas is our favorite experimenter. He is invested, efficient, always offers solutions and does not hesitate to try our proposals. He’s really an astronaut in or with whom we like to work,” emphasizes Laure Boyer, who works in the control room. “When we work with him, behind our console, there is always this particular flavor, this little attention, this little word in French. So having him here today, live, is precious and it’s a plus that you don’t have with other astronauts. The exchanges are useful for him and for us, to be even better and more ambitious the next time,” adds Tristan Hermel, also a control room operator.

The astronaut’s visit was also the first meeting opportunity for the team in two years, Covid obliges. “Getting together all together and receiving thanks from Thomas, it really feels good,” discovered Laure Boyer.

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