Thomas and Megan in BEAM module

ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet and NASA astronaut Megan Macarthur in the inflatable module BEAM, 17 May 2021.

Thomas shared this image on his social media channels with the caption:"We opened up the BEAM module recently to put some items into it for storage. It is behind our ARED exercise machine so we needed to move that out of the way first. BEAM is a unique module in that it is sent up flattened and then inflated in orbit. You can see it expanding here in 2016. This saves space in the launch rockets and could be a great technology for future missions. During Proxima we inspected it for leaks because it is a technology demonstration. As you can see it is still here four years later so I would say it is working very well! It is used for long-term storage now. We all came to see the module (imagine having a room in the house that is mostly locked, you would be curious too) including Pyotr Dubrov who I have not introduced yet. Pjotr is the "rookie" up here, on his first spaceflight. Not that we tease him in any way about that or even mention it, no time, also he is excellent, like all my colleagues Pyotr is proof that there is not typical career to being an astronaut, as he is a software engineer. If you were still hesitating to apply for ESA's astronaut selection, don't!"

Follow Thomas and his Mission Alpha on his blog.