One week in orbit

ESA’s mission director for the Proxima mission Roland Luettgens reports:

After the docking on 19 November and one day of rest, ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet started work on Monday. He appeared surprisingly rested and adapted to life in space – not always the case for human beings in space for the first time.

His plan for the week was ready and he started on time on Monday. We usually schedule extra time for each activity an astronaut performs for the first time and in particular for first-time fliers.

A big surprise arrived when Thomas called down to the Columbus Control Centre and reported that he had finished his first set of activities. He was already ahead of schedule which is unusual, so the controller as well as planners started to adjust the plan for Thomas based on his excellent performance.

Thomas at the first crew conference. Credits: ESA/NASA

Later in the week we had our first video conference with him and this is the best way to tell how he is doing. We talked for about half an hour with him and he gave us the image of a very happy and enthusiastic astronaut in space.

Thomas asked us how also made his first photos in space and were looking. We told him that they are almost perfect and looked like ones from a professional photographer. He replied that he just tried to do his best and he is more of a hobbyist than a professional photographer.

We enjoyed his first artwork of the Soyz-M03 that brought him and his crewmates into space.

We are looking forward to the next week of activities, which consists of a set of very complicated experiments that he has to perform.

“Thomas keep going….” 

Soyuz-M03 docked to the Space Station seen by Thomas Pesquet. Credits: ESA/NASA