“earth sickness”, fitness and holidays … What awaits the French in the coming weeks

Thomas is the 4th member of the crew # Crew2 to be extracted from the capsule. Welcome to Earth @thom_astro ! #MissionAlpha pic.twitter.com/utz3JPV3uT

– ESA France (@ESA_fr) November 9, 2021

The astronaut must then undergo a brief series of medical tests in Houston, Texas before traveling to Cologne, where the European Astronaut Center (EAC) is located.

>> Return to Earth by Thomas Pesquet: the latest information live

Franceinfo details what awaits the 43-year-old Frenchman in the hours, days and weeks to come.

The “earth sickness” for about 12 hours

During his first return to Earth, Thomas Pesquet landed in the plains of Kazakhstan. With the landing, the Frenchman said at a press conference on Friday that he expected a distinctly different feeling. “We are already a bit seasick when we get back to Earth, so when we get back to sea it may be even worse, but we’ll see”, he anticipated.

One thing is certain: the Norman will undergo the “earth sickness” during “about 12 hours”, according to Bernard Comet, who was, for twenty years, a doctor at the National Center for Space Studies (Cnes) and at the Institute of Space Medicine and Physiology. “This is what astronauts modestly call the ‘acute phase’. They feel nauseous, they vomit.”, he related on the CNES YouTube channel. Half a day after returning to Earth, “it is much better” even if they are not “not yet in top form”.

Scientific tests and a “fitness program” for three weeks

In Cologne, Germany, Thomas Pesquet will gradually get used to life on Earth again. Indeed, regaining your full physical capacities does not happen overnight. “On the cardiovascular level, in 24 hours, maximum three days, everything is better”, explained Bernard Comet. “The ability to exercise will take about a month or so”, he specifies.

the “fitness program”, which is accompanied by medical monitoring, is marked by “a return to very soft physical activity”, notes Sébastien Rouquette, from Cnes (around 1h38). “In the next three weeks, we will have a physiotherapy program, the swimming pool, walking at a slow pace, the stationary bike”, details the head of the parabolic flight program, who is also responsible for the development of experiments for the ISS. The return to “more traditional sports activities, such as running, will be done after a few weeks”, he emphasizes, “knowing that for cycling, and even more so for mountain biking, we will have to wait longer because of the risks linked to the fragility of the bones”.

Indeed, prolonged stays in space have the particularity of causing osteoporosis much faster than on Earth. On board the International Space Station, Thomas Pesquet lost 1% of bone mass every month. However, this rehabilitation protocol will not prevent him from seeing his relatives.

During these three weeks, Thomas Pesquet will also be subjected to the same tests as before and during his mission. These tests contribute to the collection of scientific data on the effect of micro-gravity on the human body. “It’s the whole body that we study” after this extraordinary upheaval, summarizes with AFP Adrianos Golemis, the doctor of the Alpha mission. Certain pathologies observed only in space, where blood circulates “as in reverse”, are particularly interesting. Like this syndrome says “WITHOUT”, a loss of visual acuity affecting some astronauts: “It helps us understand the eye better.”

The first vacation “for many months”

At the end of these few weeks, the astronaut will take a vacation. The first “for many months”, he said before his return to Earth. “I even feel like it’s been years”, he added, qualifying the past mission of “very, very intense”.

“On the way back, we are tired from the flight”remembers Michel Tognini on franceinfo, who left for space in 1992 and in 1999. “Both times I was extremely tired, even though it was short flights. I imagine him, who didn’t take a vacation for six months and worked 60 to 70 hours a week, he must be quite tired “, he concludes.