After NASA-International Space Station stint, French astronaut Pesquet calls for European space independence
French astronaut Thomas Pesquet on Tuesday urged Europe to seize the momentum created by its newfound diplomatic unity and "start moving now" to develop its own human spaceflight capacity.
The charismatic engineer and pilot, 44, recently completed his second deployment to the International Space Station on the NASA-SpaceX Crew-2 mission, and has arguably the highest profile among the European Astronaut Corps, in addition to being a celebrity in his native France.
Though he has long extolled international cooperation in space and remains in the mix to possibly go to the Moon as part of the NASA-led Artemis missions, Pesquet said it was vital for Europe's leaders to give the European Space Agency (ESA) the funding and mandate it needs to launch its own people, too.
"That topic is gaining momentum now," he told AFP at NASA headquarters in Washington.
"In the late eighties and early nineties, we had this goal of becoming more independent as far as space access for humans, and then it didn't pan out. Several things happened, Germany had to reunite, they had to redirect budgets etc."
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has now unified Europe's once fractious member states, and Pesquest said he hoped ESA member countries will capitalize on the continent's new clout.
"These topics like European diplomacy, European defense are coming back on the table, and part of that process is also that independent human access to space," he argued.
Currently, only the United States, Russia and China have independent launch capacity, while India is looking to acquire the same.
One potential option for ESA is launching crew on a spaceship fixed to the Ariane 6 rocket, which is currently under development and is expected to make its debut launch from French
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