Flying in a Soyuz

Claudie in Soyuz during Andromède mission in 2001. Credits: ESA/CNES

How does it feel to be in ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet’s shoes, flying through space in a small spacecraft heading to the International Space Station? As we cannot ask him directly we looked to another astronaut who has experienced the flight. ESA astronaut Claudie Haigneré, also from France, has flown twice in the Soyuz spacecraft, in 1996 and 2001. Her second mission, Andromède, saw her spend two-days flying to the Space Station like Thomas is doing now. Claudie writes:

Here are a collection of my memories as a female astronaut, an ESA astronaut, and someone who was blessed to live a very human dream:

From dream to reality

Claudie strapped into her chair before launch on Soyuz for the Andromède mission to the International Space Station (21 October 2001). Credits: ESA/CNES 2001-S. Corvaja

My first flight, finally I am in orbit! The first hours into a voyage that I had dreamt about for so long on a mission that was so carefully planned. The scientific and technical teams, the instructors and experienced cosmonauts had all passed on their knowledge and experience to us. I felt a heavy responsibility to achieve the objective: complete success of the mission as a professional astronaut for the European Space Agency.

But despite this… I felt a pure pleasure in discovering what human beings had hardly imagined and some never even dreamt. In the few hours after launch we had a bit of time for ourselves, to discover how our bodies react in weightlessness, the feeling of floating, trying to handle the slowness and clumsiness of microgravity. We looked at the spectacle through the window: watching our planet rotate and passing from night to day, the black cosmos with its millions of stars. It is more beautiful and intense than you could ever imagine. A pure moment of true bliss, of profound joy. I let the impressions print into my mind to share them with all the explorers who had stayed on ground. My child-like and passionate soul flared up, impatient and curious at the same time. Learning to sharpen concentration but also enjoying being surprised, a moment that came very quickly when I saw my first Aurora Australis.

The slow journey ended in a majestic arrival of the Soyuz docking with the space station. Opening the hatch and the joy of finding the crew on board, the surprising size of the immense International Space Station.

Every mission is unique, but they are not completely ours. The few indelible hours in the Soyuz are not defined by flight procedure… and everybody on ground control is envious of our experiences!

The procedures, the mission, the scientific programme entails a return to reality. Ready? Yes and more than we ever know.