• After months of hiatus, the Cité de l'Espace welcomed thousands of visitors during the Pentecost Bridge and happily found tourists from afar and schoolchildren in the breach.

  • The closure coincided with the arrival of Perseverance on Mars and the departure of Thomas Pesquet for the ISS.

  • But everything is done to make up for lost time.

To forget the straitjacket of 10 kilometers and confinement, you might as well travel light years. On this Tuesday morning, little Paul arrives from Bordeaux with his younger brother and his parents, wearing the most suitable outfit for a visit to the Cité de l'Espace: his cosmonaut outfit, received at Christmas. So yes, Paul should be in school. “But we decided to play it safe and come on a Tuesday to avoid the crowds,” explains Julie, her mother. Because this expedition to Toulouse is the high point of the space and special anniversary of the little boy who followed the takeoff of Thomas Pesquet's Alpha mission on Instagram for the International Space Station (ISS) and knows the difference between Martian rovers Curiosity and Perseverance.

The Bordelaise family were not wrong. If there is a crowd at the entrance this Tuesday at opening time and a line for security control, inside, you can move quietly, while respecting physical distances. But for the Pentecost relaunch, "we had a good weekend attendance, almost normal for a bridge", rejoices Jean-Baptiste Desbois, the director of the science park. The reception distributed 1,500 touch pens - the novelty of the moment much appreciated by visitors to take advantage of the interactive terminals without taking any risk - Sunday, 1,000 Saturday and Monday. With great responsiveness, the schools have also been back since Monday which, as a test and until further notice, is no longer a closing day.A "way to make up for lost time" for staff "frustrated" to have experienced space events behind closed doors such as the arrival of Perseverance from Mars or the second departure of Thomas Pesquet.

Physical and brain training for the reopening mission

Mission successful in catching up, according to Philippe, a Lyonnais traveling in a combi in the South-West with friends.

"We have the impression of replaying the information we heard during the confinement," he says while comparing the aesthetics of the Perseverance rover and its Chinese "cousin" Zhurong, both in full size.

In another building, Paul takes advantage of the new "control room" inaugurated for monitoring the Alpha mission.

He observed the trajectory of the ISS live for a few moments.

In this "news room", launched without anyone, the public seems to have a predilection for trying on the seats of the Crew Dragon capsule, the one in which the French astronaut sat.

In one corner, the Stade Toulousaine European Cup special jersey has not yet its fifth star, but visitors, mainly from afar, do not notice this spatiotemporal gap.

On the video wall, the Cité will broadcast - normally Wednesday 16 and Sunday 20 June - the famous extra-vehicular outings by Thomas Pesquet.

The scent of big meetings once again floats on the Cité de l'Espace where the mediators had to participate in an intensive training, physical and cerebral, dealing with fake demanding clients, to relearn how to stand for whole days and to answer the most pointed questions.

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  • Tourism

  • Thomas Pesquet

  • Deconfinement

  • Toulouse

  • Science

  • Space