Thomas planting his tree with Oleg and Peggy.
Cosmonaut alley with some of the older trees.
All cosmonauts and astronauts that fly with the Soyuz spacecraft plant a tree shortly before their first flight. Thomas Pesquet is no exception and he planted his trees on 10 November 2016, seven days before launch.
Thomas’ crewmates Peggy Whitson and Oleg Novitsky have both flown on a Soyuz spacecraft before so they didn’t plant a new tree but helped Thomas with his.
This tradition started with Yuri Gagarin, the first person to orbit Earth, when he planted his tree near the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur in 1961. Naturally his tree is one of the largest.
Below is a gallery of all the trees from the ESA astronauts of the class of 2009, taken by Thomas:
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- Luca Parmitano flew his Volare mission in 2014
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- Samantha Cristoforetti spent 199 days on the Space Station in 2015.
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- Thomas Pesquet’s tree
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- Tim Peake’s Principia mission ended after six months on the International Space Station this year.
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- Alexander Gerst went to the International Space Station in 2015 for his Blue Dot mission.
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- Andreas Mogensen flew a 10-day mission ‘iriss’ in 2015
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- Samantha Cristoforetti spent 199 days on the Space Station in 2015.
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- Alexander Gerst went to the International Space Station in 2015 for his Blue Dot mission.
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- Andreas Mogensen flew a 10-day mission ‘iriss’ in 2015
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- Luca Parmitano flew his Volare mission in 2014
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- Tim Peake’s Principia mission ended after six months on the International Space Station this year.
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- Thomas Pesquet’s tree
Andreas Mogensen flew a 10-day mission ‘iriss’ in 2015
Alexander Gerst went to the International Space Station in 2015 for his Blue Dot mission.
Tim Peake’s Principia mission ended after six months on the International Space Station this year.
Thomas Pesquet’s tree
Samantha Cristoforetti spent 199 days on the Space Station in 2015.
Luca Parmitano flew his Volare mission in 2014
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