Thomas Pesquet posted a photo:

You can tell Dakar is bustling, even from space! Its location means it has beaches on all sides of the city, but that it is boxed in from all sides too. The airport seems to hardly have enough space for the runway. It is a great place and I was welcomed very warmly when I visited, but it is suffering from the effects of climate change with frequent flooding during rainy season.

Un éperon qui s’avance dans l’Atlantique, c’est la presqu’île du Cap et Dakar, ville située la plus à l’ouest de tout le continent africain. Magnifique position géographique pour la sémillante capitale du Sénégal :sn: Il y fait très bon vivre et on y est bien accueilli, j’ai eu l’occasion de le constater. Elle subit pourtant les effets du changement climatiques avec inondations répétées à la saison des pluies et littoral plus au nord est grignoté par la montée des eaux…

Credits: ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet

513B4710

Thomas Pesquet posted a photo:

I like the out-of-place framing in this picture because you can see the lights of houses under the clouds bottom left. This really gives a sense of scale and how powerful nature is.

J’aime le cadrage décalé parce qu’on distingue les lumières d’une zone habitée sous les nuages en bas à gauche. Ce qui donne une idée de l’échelle du phénomène. Mère nature est puissante…

Credits: ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet

513B5729

Thomas Pesquet posted a photo:

Some days start very early on the International Space Station, often we have to do blood draws or take other samples before eating so we wake up around 06:00 to help our colleagues or take the samples ourselves. I prefer sticking myself because if I miss I can only blame myself, but a colleague helping with managing the tubes and other instruments is very helpful :syringe::blush:. Often the experiment protocol requires we store the samples immediately in our freezers. We have three on the Space Station and they conserve experiment samples at –80°C. They are called MELFI, after their very descriptive acronym: Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS. They were made in France for ESA and just work really well for over a decade – which is incredible considering the constraints of making an extremely small freezer in space and only electricity to make it work. As the technology behind it is so maintenance-free it is used on Earth to minimise waste when transporting gas.

Parfois, les journées débutent TRÈS tôt dans l’ISS :tired_face::sleeping:, avec prise de sang :syringe: dès 6h… On est entraînés à les réaliser sur autrui… ou sur soi-même, c’est la technique que certains (dont moi) préfèrent (au moins si on se rate, l’ambiance reste bonne ;)). Pour conserver les échantillons jusqu’à la date du retour sur Terre, pas de panique : on a trois congélateurs (made in Europe) qui descendent allègrement vers les -80 degrés … Maintenant il ne reste plus qu’à se réveiller un peu plus.

Credits: ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet

516L5221

Thomas Pesquet posted a photo:

twitter.com/Aki_Hoshide/status/1396292359160320001

It was a pleasure to watch with you Aki, glad somebody shares a love of :rugby_football:, we might even have converted Shane from :football:. Bring on the JR TopLeague finals… but I don’t have a jersey this time!

Credits: ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet

607C5202

Thomas Pesquet posted a photo:

twitter.com/Aki_Hoshide/status/1396292359160320001

It was a pleasure to watch with you Aki, glad somebody shares a love of :rugby_football:, we might even have converted Shane from :football:. Bring on the JR TopLeague finals… but I don’t have a jersey this time!

Credits: ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet

607C5205