French ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet: Europe must 'maximise scientific return' from ISS before closure

The French astronaut urged Europe and his home country to "maximise the scientific return" from the European Space Agency's next mission to the International Space Station, while stressing the importance of spaceflight for Europe’s strategic sovereignty in space. French astronaut Thomas Pesquet told Euronews that Europe and France must "maximise the scientific return" from ESA's next private mission aboard PAM-6 to the International Space Station (ISS), which he will lead in summer 2027. Speaking to Euronews at the International Space Summit held in Paris on Wednesday and Thursday, Pesquet said "we know the ISS is coming to an end soon and we don't know when Europe and specifically France's next turn, will come again, given that long-term missions to the ISS are assigned on a rotating basis." The ISS is scheduled to retire and be deorbited in 2030 due to its ageing hardware and maintenance issues, as well as the space sector's shift towards commercial activities. Russia and the US launched the first segments in late 1998, and astronauts moved in two years later. Europe and Japan added their own modules, and Canada provided robotic arms. Pesquet is part of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Astronaut Corps, which selects, trains, and provides crew members for US and Russian space missions. The International Space Summit — co-hosted by France and Germany — gathered space industry leaders, heads of state and astronauts to call for greater European sovereignty and investment in the space sector. At present, ESA does not have its own operational crewed spacecraft or crewed launcher. For Pesquet, the move towards greater European space sovereignty is a step in the right direction, given that consistent partnerships on the world stage have become a "challenge". "Given the upheavals in the geopolitical landscape, without getting into the details, it’s clear that it’s difficult to rely on long term partners, consistency has become a rare commodity on the international stage. We believe we must first do things ourselves first." "That is something that will not change in coming years," he added. Europe's push to build up its military space assets has been driven by Russia's war in Ukraine, as well as a decision to distance itself from its longstanding dependence on the US in the space domain. Kyiv's reliance on Elon Musk's Starlink has shown the strategic importance of space services in war, given that satellite networks can provide connectivity even when infrastructure is damaged or destroyed. "Going forward, maybe there will be more small stations rather than one large station — a European station. I’d really like to see American, Indian, and Chinese stations. We’re also preparing for that world, which is coming very quickly," said Pesquet. Despite this, he assured that once astronauts lift off, geopolitics down on Earth usually get left behind. A single space crew can include astronauts and cosmonauts from several agencies — from Europe's ESA, Russia's Roscosmos and the United States' NASA. "I remember the early days of my career, around 2011, when we already tended to focus on the things we had in common, on the very things that brought us together — rather than talking about the things that divided us." "When you’re part of a crew — on a boat, in a plane, or in a submarine, it's part of collective intelligence, so we keep this attitude. Obviously, relations between organisations aren't always easy. But at least at our level we don’t want that to affect our work, we don’t want it to affect safety, so we maintain healthy relationships." Europe 'needs' a new space strategy ESA significantly increased its funding in November 2025, approving a record-breaking €22.3 billion budget for 2026–2028, with €35 billion for space for security and defence. For Géraldine Naja, director of space transportation at ESA, Europe has "understood" that it needs a change of strategy after typically investing far less than the US and China in space. "If you compare GNP and the number of people, we are spending six times less than the US," she said. For Naja, the successful launch of the first commercial rocket — Spectrum — to orbit from mainland Europe by German startup Isar Aerospace on Saturday marked a significant step in the right direction. "Spectrum is a rocket built and developed by Isar Aerospace, which was incubated in Bavaria, which benefited from several ESA programmes that aim to support new companies and help them commercialise their products." "Space is very important to defence because the technologies are different and also we have now realised that space tools are absolutely necessary for any defence policy." "When you look at what is going around us, unfortunately, most of the weapons require communication, navigational tools, which can only be provided by space. Space itself can become a theatre for war," she said.