Updated on September 25, 2026
Having just wrapped up the first International Space Summit in Paris, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet had a marathon day in Monaco on 11 September 2026. At the invitation of Jean-Luc Allavena, honorary president of the French-American Foundation, among other roles, Thomas Pesquet met with Prince Albert II and the Minister of State, gave a talk to nearly 250 Monaco high school students and then to more than a thousand guests of the Monaco Méditerranée Foundation at the Rainier-III Auditorium. He also visited the premises of Venturi Space, which is due to send its first craft to the Moon in December 2026. After a (short) night at Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo, the astronaut set off again early the next morning.
In an exclusive interview, Thomas Pesquet answers our questions about the geostrategic challenges of space exploration, daily life aboard the International Space Station, and shares his thoughts after two missions lasting nearly 200 days at 400 km above Earth.
Meet the space explorer who is welcomed like a star wherever he goes.
Thomas Pesquet, pictured here on the terrace of the Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo © Orphic
In Monaco, you discovered the rovers designed by Gildo Pallanca Pastor’s Venturi Space. Could you imagine exploring the surface of the Moon aboard a Monegasque vehicle?
Thomas Pesquet: That would be a fantastic mission. Setting foot on the lunar surface is my personal dream. It’s really what drives me today, after 400 days aboard the International Space Station. Obviously, I’m here to carry out every mission that comes my way. But what excites me is what lies even further ahead.
And, as a European, I want Europe to have a role to play on the Moon. With a European, Monegasque rover, why not? Venturi Space has some great ideas and is doing a really good job. That would make for a great family photo on the surface of the Moon in a few years’ time! It’s possible.
Thomas Pesquet and former astronaut & Venturi Space ambassador Jean-François Clervoy © Venturi/Fitte
Isn’t it surprising to see such a small country as Monaco positioning itself in this adventure?
Thomas Pesquet: When all is said and done, what do you need? Technology, public funding, private investment and partnerships. That’s exactly what works. Venturi has partnered with Michelin, among others, for the tires, as well as with Swiss and American partners. I think they’re going about it the right way.
Today, when you want to get into space exploration, it doesn’t really make sense to replicate what the Americans and Russians have gradually built over twenty, thirty or fifty years. You need to make a strong entry into one part of the project, choose a niche and become extremely good at it : a rover, for example, or a very specialized piece of technology. No country can do everything on its own. The key is to share the project so that everyone can contribute something highly specialized. And that’s exactly what Venturi is doing.
Demonstration of a lunar rover with Gildo Pallanca Pastor, President of Venturi Space © Venturi/Fitte
At a time when space is becoming a major strategic issue, both economic and political, how can we preserve it as a realm of cooperation between nations? Can it remain peaceful?
Thomas Pesquet: An idea expressed by French President Emmanuel Macron at the International Space Summit seems important to me: if we want to defend our vision of space as a common good, if we don't want the first to arrive to be able to appropriate things and if we reject a kind of “Wild West in space,” we need to be a powerful partner.
It's as simple as that. If we don't have the capacity ourselves to launch, explore, conduct research or communicate in space, we aren't at the table when these subjects are discussed.
A photo of the Netherlands taken by Thomas Pesquet from space © ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
What emotions and feelings predominate when you look at Earth from an altitude of around 400 kilometers?
Thomas Pesquet : On a 200-day mission—and nearly 400 days in all in my case—you inevitably go through every emotion. Obviously, you feel extremely privileged to be there. But there are also many moments when you have your head down, focused on the task at hand.
Astronauts tend to be rational people. We don't always give free rein to poetry, lyrical expression or strong emotions. In a way, we're also selected for that. But what really struck me was seeing with my own eyes things I already knew intellectually.
Our brains are capable of reasoning with very large numbers, but that isn't necessarily what moves us. What really moves us is what we see, what we can touch, the people we know, what happens on our scale.
Actually seeing the finitude of the planet, however, is almost a shock. You see this small, isolated planet, and it makes you think a great deal. At first, there's almost an anxiety associated with this finitude. Then I thought: if we managed to build the International Space Station, something incredibly complex, with people from all over the world who don't all speak the same language and who decided to carry out a research program together for positive reasons, then we are also capable, here on Earth, of facing extremely difficult challenges.
Earth photographed by Thomas Pesquet from space © ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
Has this contemplation transformed the way you think about the things in life?
Thomas Pesquet: It first made me more worried. I was already environmentally conscious. But seeing things on a scale that one can really understand and feel reinforced it enormously. So I came back more motivated : motivated to remind people that we have all the cards in our hands and mustn't forget to play them.
Mount Everest photographed by Thomas Pesquet from space © ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
For the astronauts, Chef Alain Ducasse notably prepared salmon with candied lemon from Menton. Did you try it? Was it as good as in the restaurant?
Thomas Pesquet: Yes, I tried Alain Ducasse's dish on the ISS. The problem is that before departure, you try the original version in the restaurant, and it's wonderful. Then it has to be canned, meet extremely strict safety standards and have a shelf life of around two years. Unfortunately, the salmon suffers a little from the process! When you open the can on the station, it's not quite the same…
Gourmet meals have been prepared for the Space Station for a very long time. New recipes are developed for each mission, and often the astronauts choose a chef from their country.
Alain Ducasse is in a somewhat unusual situation: there is a rotation of dishes prepared with CNES, which are then supplied to NASA and which the astronauts can choose. So it’s not just the French who eat Alain Ducasse’s food in space. The Russians love the chef’s dishes! The Americans a little less so; perhaps they’re more set in their ways…
Thomas Pesquet with his NASA colleagues © ESA/NASA
When you spend nearly 200 days in space twice, as you have, what do you miss most about life on Earth?
Thomas Pesquet: The natural world, I think. And the freedom to walk, to go wherever you want. The Space Station is a bit like a submarine with a very beautiful view: you’re shut inside a limited space, so it’s very confining.
The freedom to go for a walk, to go to the mountains, into a forest… We take all that for granted because we’re never completely deprived of it. Even when you live in a city, there are a few trees, and you know that at the weekend or during your holidays you’ll be able to get away. In space, you’re completely cut off from nature. It’s quite strange.
It’s often when you’re deprived of something that you understand just how much it mattered. You may not realize that walking in the forest is important to you until it becomes impossible.
There’s also a very strong contrast with the Station’s environment. Everything there is extremely technical and scientific: metal, rather cold-looking equipment, functional shapes. So you find yourself wanting color, irregular shapes, anything that brings nature to mind. We spend an enormous amount of time looking at the planet. Europe is magnificent at night. No one designed it to look beautiful from space, and yet it does. It’s a beauty that wasn’t intended, but emerges in the result.
Thomas Pesquet met with around 250 high school students from the Principality © Direction de la Communication du Gouvernement Princier
What have you actually been able to observe about climate change from orbit?
Thomas Pesquet : Climate change itself isn’t something you can directly “see.” You see its effects. Rising sea levels and melting ice are phenomena that we measure over the long term. It’s mainly data from Earth observation satellites that allow us to establish the changes in the climate; and there, there is absolutely no ambiguity.
On the other hand, some effects are very clear to see, such as the increase in extreme weather events. During my second mission, in 2021, people were talking a lot about “megafires.” Today, the term itself seems almost to have disappeared, so commonplace have these fires become: every summer, somewhere, there are fires.
We could also see the hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico: one would hit Louisiana or Texas, and another would follow. It’s this increase in extreme events that we perceive very strongly from up there.
The Upsala Glacier photographed by Thomas Pesquet from space © ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
Did you discuss these environmental issues with Prince Albert II?
Thomas Pesquet: Yes. We’d already talked about them in 2022, when we spent some time together, and we discussed them again on September 11. The environment is clearly something that concerns the Prince a great deal.
Has the experience of space changed your relationship with God? Does it also make life seem more precious to you?
Thomas Pesquet : What I’ve observed is that space tends to amplify sensitivities that were already there. Someone who is completely atheist won’t necessarily have an epiphany and change their entire outlook because they’ve been to space. By contrast, someone who was already sensitive to climate change will probably find that sensitivity intensified. And I think the same is true of someone with religious sensibilities.
Once again, we don’t spend our days gazing at Earth: we have an enormous amount of work to do. But, sometimes, when you look at this little blue marble, this sort of utterly improbable oasis of life with almost nothing around it, it inevitably prompts certain thoughts and conversations.
Thomas Pesquet during his visit to Venturi © Venturi/Fitte
By photographing Earth as you have, you seem to evoke something profoundly human: the perception of beauty, emotion, even philosophical reflection. Is space a particularly privileged place for this?
Thomas Pesquet: I think we are all sensitive to something artistic. You don’t have to be an artist to appreciate art. Besides, “art” can mean so many things: music, painting, literature, a beautiful story, a photograph, or even a geometric shape that we find beautiful and that speaks to us. It’s part of our operating system.
During my missions, photography was what really moved me. We look for beauty around us, perhaps all the more so because we live in a very technical environment. And when we’re deprived of nature, we see it differently. We look for colors, shapes, landscapes.
Today, back on Earth, I also listen to a lot of music. I realized fairly late that it isn’t just “pretty”: it really does affect our feelings. It can change a mood, or sometimes intensify it. I think we need these things.
The night-side hemisphere as seen by Thomas Pesquet © ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
A question for Gildo Pallanca Pastor, president of Venturi Space
Can you imagine Thomas Pesquet driving around on the Moon in your Mona Luna Rover?
He’s the ideal guy! He’ll have his place on a trip to the Moon.
In the foreground, Thomas Pesquet and Gildo Pallanca Pastor, pictured here at Venturi © Venturi/Fitte
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