Thomas PESQUET

European Space Agency (ESA) • Astronaut

Born in Rouen, France, on 27 February 1978, Thomas graduated from the competitive French “classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles” at the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen, France, in 1998.

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

Thomas graduated from the Air France flight school in 2006. This led to an Air Transport Pilot License-Instrument Rating (ATPL-IR).

Thomas Pesquet is a European Space Agency astronaut who was the first person from France to command the International Space Station.

During Pesquet's first mission, he flew to the ISS on a Russian Soyuz and spent 197 days in space between 2016 and 2017 as a flight engineer for Expeditions 50 and 51. Pesquet, who recently served during Expeditions 65, 66 and 67, arrived at the ISS again on April 23, 2021 and returned to Earth on Nov. 8, 2021, aboard the SpaceX Crew-2 Crew Dragon.

Events

The Global Space Exploration Conference 2025

7-9 May 2025

New Delhi, India

Participation: