After spending nearly 200 days in space during his second mission to the International Space Station (ISS), French astronaut Thomas Pesquet has returned to Earth after having captured nearly a quarter of million photos.
As we’ve seen, Pesquet has been very busy in space. He’s photographed a rare blue ‘transient luminous event,’ he’s shot 360-degree video tours of the Space Station, and he’s photographed a blue auroral display. Pesquet has been sharing many photos on Twitter, including photos of airports (Pesquet has a background as a commercial pilot), rivers in Africa, stunning mountain ranges in Peru, and much more.
Thomas Pesquet captured a lot more photos during his second stint in space than during his first trip in 2017. In an interview, seen below, Pesquet discusses the importance of sharing photos from space. He also talks about the resonsibiilty he feels to show how Earth appears from above. ‘I think there is a responsibility to share this point of view because you see the fragility of the Earth. All the astronauts who come back to Earth are going to tell you that here it seems limitless and infinite, but when you see the Earth from space, it’s very finite with limited resources. So there is a responsibility to share that viewpoint so that people understand the situation we are in.’
The four @SpaceX Crew-2 astronauts talk about the wide variety of @ISS_Research they conducted during their six months in space. pic.twitter.com/nOBnD07KtM
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) November 15, 2021
Pesquet also spoke alongside his fellow SpaceX Crew-2 astronauts about their experiences at the ISS. You can check out that video below.
The four @SpaceX Crew-2 astronauts talk about the wide variety of @ISS_Research they conducted during their six months in space. pic.twitter.com/nOBnD07KtM
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) November 15, 2021
Pesquet did another interview with the European Space Agency’s Julien Harrod. Pesquet touches on multiple topics, including how the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft differed from the Russian Soyuz craft he was aboard in 2017. Pesquet also described the changes he saw on Earth after just a few years.
Below, you can check out just a small sample of the photos Pesquet captured while aboard the ISS. If you’d like to keep up to date with him as he continues to share more of the hundreds of thousands of shots he took, follow him on Twitter.
🌎🔍 Repetitive forms on Earth, but on closer inspection very, very different landscapes. The mountains of Peru emerge from the clouds, looking similar to the landscape in Africa emerging from a river. #MissionAlpha pic.twitter.com/q1Edgu6sK3
— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) November 27, 2021
Une victoire contre les @AllBlacks, ça méritait des photos de Nouvelle-Zélande ! Bravo à leur équipe 🏉 qui n’a pas démérité hier, et surtout félicitations au #XVdeFrance pour cette victoire historique contre la référence mondiale du rugby. Good game! #MissionAlpha #FRAvNZL pic.twitter.com/732GUPagN3
— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) November 21, 2021
You know when you come back from a trip and need to organise your photos? I took over 245000 photos during #MissionAlpha 😬 some good, some for #timelapses, and some bad 😊 To not forget the magical @Space_Station, I’ll post more now and again… like this one of #Europe at night. pic.twitter.com/xjHNPakxUU
— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) November 18, 2021
Bittersweet feeling to leave @Space_Station. A magical place in the sky that grants superpowers like floating and seeing🌍in a glance. 🙏to the people that built it, for everyone’s benefit. It gives me hope that humans can achieve anything, with good intentions, when we want to. pic.twitter.com/jTYA5aqa5B
— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) November 8, 2021
We were treated to the strongest auroras of the entire mission, over north America and Canada. Amazing spikes higher than our orbit🤩, and we flew right above the centre of the ring, rapid waves and pulses all over. #MissionAlpha https://t.co/5rdb08ljhx pic.twitter.com/0liCkGvRCh
— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) November 6, 2021