French astronaut Thomas Pesquet in the International Space Station (ISS) on January 13, 2017, photographed by American astronaut Peggy Whitson -

AFP PHOTO / ESA / NASA / PEGGY WHITSON

Thomas Pesquet will soon be returning to space as part of the Crew-2 mission co-organized by NASA and SpaceX.

The American space agency has indeed indicated this Friday photo in support that the French astronaut had participated in training on January 11 with his future shipping partners.

No exact date has been specified in the press release, which however mentions a take-off "no earlier than April 20" next.

This new trip was announced in 2019.

The mission will take Thomas Pesquet and three other astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

Passengers will go there aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft docked to the Falcon 9 rocket. The French will serve as mission specialist, as will the Japanese Akihiko Hoshide.

American Shane Kimbrough was given command of the vessel.

Megan McArthur, also American, will be a pilot.

We have been announced a new departure date!

This is not the first time that it has changed ... and maybe (probably? 😉) not the last ... in any case now we are aiming for April 20 https://t.co/ZQkTgPQOs8 pic .twitter.com / OqP8eAp9nk

- Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) January 30, 2021

Soon the record of time spent in space

This team will be in the ISS until the fall of 2021 and will meet the participants in the Crew-1 mission.

These had flown to the space station in November 2020 and are expected to return to Earth between late April and early May of this year.

NASA has also announced that it is preparing the Crex-3 mission, the launch of which is scheduled for the same period as the departure from the ISS of Thomas Pesquet and his teammates.

The 42-year-old astronaut has already spent more than 196 days in space,

Numerama

said

.

He left between November 2016 and June 2017. This figure should have doubled at the end of this next and second mission.

He will thus become the Frenchman who has spent the most time in space, underlines

Numerama

in another article.

The spacecraft carrying the Crew-2 participants will take off from Launch Site 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

Science

SpaceX: One of the two Dragon spacecraft docked to the ISS soon to return to Earth

Science

SpaceX plans to send its first tourists to space in late 2021

  • SpaceX

  • Science

  • Space

  • Nasa

  • Astronaut

  • Thomas pesquet