How this school in Toulouse became the nursery of astronauts

• The last two generations of French astronauts, Thomas Pesquet and Sophie Adenot, have passed through the ranks of Isae-Supaéro.

• The Toulouse engineering school, which does not hide its pride, has also trained two of the reservists selected by the European Space Agency.

• A success that can be explained by its training, which may be more complete than its international competitors, but also the network of its alumni who evolve in the space sector.

“The selection of Sophie Adenot is extremely inspiring as a Supaero student and as a girl because she is the first French female astronaut since Claudie Haigneré.

That she leaves our school is a source of great pride.

In her second year at the Higher Institute of Aeronautics and Space in Toulouse, Marie Delaroche, like so many other students, dreams of following in the footsteps of the new recruit of the European Space Agency.

To realize her dream of working in space, this young Frenchwoman who grew up in New York did not plan to integrate any other than the one who has already welcomed on her benches those who have already known the stars, such as Thomas Pesquet, the Italians Luca Parmitano and Samantha Cristoforetti, or even Jean-François Clervoy and Philippe Perrin.

“At the end of middle school, beginning of high school, I did an observation internship at CNES.

I was accompanied by a member of my family and when I asked him naively: "How do you become an astronaut?", we were driving past Supaéro at the same time.

He then said to me: "You have to go back there", "recalls the young woman fed to the episodes of

on the universe.

Since then, his desire and his passion have guided his school career, with the ambition of integrating this institute which trains 2,000 students each year.

Become an astronaut?

“Ultimate objective, but it cannot be the only one”

Not everyone dreams of following in the footsteps of their illustrious predecessors, two-thirds of the 800 graduates intending to pursue a career in the world of aeronautics.

“It's an ultimate goal for me and some of my comrades, but it can't be the only goal for a lifetime given the odds of being selected.

What is exciting is all the way between now and the moment when we will submit our application to ESA for the next wave, there are a lot of career possibilities before becoming an astronaut", notes with humility Married.

But looking at the numbers more closely, if one day she got into the race, she would mathematically have a better chance of joining the body of European astronauts than a student from another school.

Of the 22,589 people who applied last year, 17 were selected: five "holders" and eleven "reservists".

In addition to Sophie Adenot, there are the Italian Anthea Comellini and the Frenchman Arnaud Prost, both also passed by Supaéro.

We are all very proud @ISAE_officiel to see Sophie follow in the footsteps of @Thom_astro among European astronauts, as she did as a student at ISAE-SUPAERO and as she has since done as godmother of our success rope, @oseisaesupaero!

https://t.co/mwUc1GUcG8

— Olivier Lesbre (@OL_ISAE) November 23, 2022

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"If you want to become an astronaut, it's a very good choice to come to us, it doesn't mean that everyone becomes an astronaut after coming to us", notes the director general of the establishment, Olivier Lesbre which recalls that his school was a pioneer in developing “space” training at the end of the 1970s. And which today covers the entire “catalogue of existing space disciplines”.

Comprehensive training, beyond science and technology

Beyond its student selection process, one of the keys to the success of Isae also lies in its geographical location, at the heart of the space ecosystem, a stone's throw from the CNES in Toulouse but also from companies. such as Airbus Defense & Space or even Thales.

“What makes us special perhaps compared to our international competitors, is that we have a training model that is more complete and more balanced.

In a university, you will have training in very focused, very specific areas.

With us, you will have a high-level scientific training, but in several disciplines.

We also demand that they open their minds to other areas, in terms of economics, management, general culture, 30% of training hours is something other than science and technology, "

So many ingredients that make it possible to best prepare future astronauts.

Just like the possibility of participating in Mars Desert Research Station, simulation missions of life on Mars in the middle of the Utah desert.

Also to do motorized flight or skydiving.

Or to take advantage of the network of alumni, scattered all over the space sector, at NASA and ESA, who "share values, common ambitions, mutual aid and ease of language", explains Stéphanie Lizy-Destrez, one of the teachers at the school that has a real, big campus.

A wave of applications announced

But the recipe sometimes also needs that little extra that will make the difference.

This is what this professor felt when she first met Arnaud Prost, then a student.

“I said to myself, he is a future astronaut.

At first glance I felt it”, says the one who specializes in the design of space systems.

Over the past year, she has followed many alumni who have gone very far in the selection without reaching the final square.

Many of them were part of the “Ose Isae-Supaéro” association and its program labeled Cordées de la Réussite.

Just like Sophie Adenot, Thomas Pesquet and Arnaud Prost too.

This “completely uninhibited” generation, which resembles us, does not hesitate to speak with children from rural areas or disadvantaged neighborhoods, often far from science, to share their passion with them.

""Ose" prepares them well, whether at the level of intervention in the classes or popularization.

For them it is also something to see the lights that light up in the eyes of the children”, insists Stéphanie Lizy-Destrez who hopes to find one of her children one day in front of her on the benches of the Isae.

One thing is sure,

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• Science

• Space

• Toulouse

• Occitania

• Thomas Pésquet

• Sophie Adenot

• Nasa

• CNES

• Higher Education