Barely returned to Earth, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet is back in the air, at the controls of a humanitarian plane that flew on Wednesday, April 13.
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“I didn’t just want to give my image or send messages of support, I wanted to do something more,” the European Space Agency astronaut said during a press conference organized by the NGO Aviation without Borders ahead of the launch.
“I would like to go on the pitch because I feel really useful there”
Thomas Pequet
Thomas Pesquet, who returned in November from his second mission aboard the International Space Station, uses his airline pilot training 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.
Planes ferried from the United States
“The plane makes it possible to get rid of the rutted bush tracks and the ‘road tillers’,” bandits who attack motorists in Africa, says Jean-Yves Grosse, flight operations manager at Aviation Sans Frontières.
The plane the astronaut is piloting, a brand new Cessna Grand Caravan, crossed over from Kansas, USA, in February. The Frenchman is one of the pilots responsible for taking him to a safe port, although the NGO did not specify if he would go to the end of the voyage. Its exact route was also not disclosed for security reasons.
Ongoing training to conduct missions
In order to replace its second, outdated device, the NGO still needs 1.5 million euros, which it wants to raise thanks to its partners and donations. Thomas Pesquet still needs a few more flying hours to be fully qualified on the plane – so he’s not the captain – and to be able to conduct operations in Bangui, Central African Republic, or in Bunia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, the two countries where Aviation sans Frontières deploys its aircraft.
“I would like to go on the pitch because I feel really useful there,” Thomas Pesquet told AFP shortly before his departure. He had previously expressed concern about the long-term impact of the war in Ukraine on space cooperation with Russia.
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We can clearly see that we are not committing to tomorrow’s cooperation and unfortunately projects in the space sector will be developed in five, ten, fifteen years, so we will see the consequences of what is happening at the moment in a few years; they won’t be positive, that’s for sure, he regretted.
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