Thomas Pesquet tells his story like never before in my life without gravitas

Thomas Peske’s life has been documented so much that it seems that everything has been said. Except maybe in his personal life, which he kept carefully to himself from the beginning. With the release of his autobiography My life without gravity, which is released this Wednesday, October 18, we learn more, particularly about his childhood, his parents, and his partner Anne Motte, who is an engineer by profession. A man with two astronauts distills various moments and conversations from his personal life and, among other things, recounts the fears and doubts of his mother and partner during his journey as an astronaut.

Fighter jets and the NBA

Thomas Peske made his first journey into space in 2016, from the Baikonur space station in Kazakhstan, heading to the ISS (International Space Station), where he will remain for six months. ISS, which it returns to in 2021 as part of a second mission, this time flying on the American side. In My life without gravity, it’s surprising at first to learn that being an astronaut wasn’t exactly young Thomas Peske’s dream. His passions in childhood and adolescence boiled down to two things: fighter jets, and later basketball (in particular, we read that in a departmental competition he faced off against a certain Tony Parker…). For years he would say, “What do you want to do when you grow up?”, he would always give a long and unvarying answer. “Fighter Pilot”.

Mother Wolf

About his childhood, Thomas Pesquet tells about the “modest and especially harmonious” environment, the family culture of “good grades” (his father is a professor of mathematics and physics, his mother is a school teacher), the closeness with his brother Baptiste, with whom; he replayed NBA games until he knew them by heart, and his special bond with his “overprotective” mother. “How could he not be? one summer when he was staying with his uncle in the south of France, his little brother died at the age of twelve while climbing a tightrope, a tragic accident,” he writes over the pages, adding that when: his father was away, and he was still a child, he wedged the mattress he was sleeping on against the door of his children’s bedroom; It’s easy to imagine how she felt when she knew her son was going into space. A reaction that Thomas Pesquet tells with tenderness and humor.

His lifelong love

The astronaut could remain silent or simply mention his love story with Anne Motte, whom he met at the end of his senior year; (which I find very hot) won’t take long to impress me.” It then follows the ups and downs of the lives of two young students who drift away due to their ambitions and find each other again. They will eventually end up in Toulouse, where he works at INRA (National Institute for Agricultural Research); he was at CNES (National Center for Space Research) at the time, leaving soon to become an airline pilot. Throughout the chapters, she recounts the ups and downs of their relationship, torn apart by her extreme choices. The part about his first departure from Baikonur is especially touching. Just like the one where he recounts the days following his return to Earth in 2017 and his companion’s deep grief. “Supposedly, we lived all this with joy and good humor, what do you think?” Each of us thought about it. the moment when everything was going to explode,” he later said. “You understand that it is not something that gives pleasure. seeing you leave in flames. This adventure is dangerous.” adds Anne Mottet. “You have to listen, Thomas… This story, for me, has a name. it’s called trauma,” she says, insisting she can’t relive it. Which he finally had to do, no doubt in spite of himself, when he took off in a SpaceX capsule in 2021.