“We are not immune to a fourth postponement” of the return of the French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, declared Sunday, November 7 on franceinfo Didier Schmitt, head of the strategy of the European Space Agency for the manned and robotic exploration of space, who reacted to the three successive postponements of the date of return of the team of astronauts, because of bad weather conditions.
franceinfo: Does this kind of setback happen often?
Didier Schmitt: Not at this point, at least I can’t remember. The problem is, the weather has been bad for two weeks over the Gulf of Mexico and off Florida. It’s a concern that bothers take-off [de l’équipe qui remplacera celle de Thomas Pesquet] that landing [de l’équipe actuellement dans la Station spatiale]. And this does not only depend on the local weather but also on the weather at altitude because the first extractors (parachutes) open at several tens of kilometers above sea level. There should therefore not be strong winds at altitude, it is not only important for the moment of the splash-down (when the capsule lands on the water).
How’s the return trip going from the International Space Station?
Everything is in place. You just have to press the right button at the right time. The crew must get into the vehicle, so in the Crew Dragon [véhicule spatial qui assure la relève des équipages] back, then when you make the decision to get off the Space Station, you can’t get back to it. You can always stay an extra day or two in orbit before triggering the final descent, but it’s best if they spend as little time as possible on the capsule. Then, when the capsule enters the atmosphere, it is first braked by a heat shield, there is a sequence of parachutes, the first open in hypersonic mode (at more than 1,000 km / h). Then, we open the last to then land with a little retro-rockets just before touching the water. The crew is then recovered with a boat, as was done for the Apollo missions.
What do you remember from Thomas Pesquet’s six months aboard the International Space Station?
We have negotiated with NASA, so we are “entitled” to a long flight (six months) every 18 months. What we wanted to do this time, but which did not work, was to have the relay in orbit with the next astronaut, Matthias Maurer. We should have had a continuum between Thomas and him, then with Samantha Cristoforetti, the Italian astronaut who will take over from Matthias. We would have had a continuity of 18 months in space, which has never been seen for the European Space Agency. We have a “space” council [avec les ministres chargés de la politique spatiale] at the end of next year, so it’s very good to show that we are present in this area. This allows us to train our astronauts for future missions, i.e. the Gateway (the lunar orbital station). And why not, by the end of the decade, to have a European on the moon?