On 17 November 2016, ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet will be the tenth French astronaut to be launched into space, alongside Roscosmos commander Oleg Novitsky and NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson.

They will travel from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazachstan on the Soyuz MS-03, a recently upgraded version of Russia’s workhorse that has been in service for almost 50 years.

Thomas’s mission is called Proxima and it is the ninth long-duration mission for an ESA astronaut. It was named after the closed star to the Sun – continuing a tradition of naming missions with French astronauts after stars and constellations.

During Proxima, Thomas will perform more than 50 scientific experiments for ESA and CNES as well as take part in many research activities for the other Space Station partners.

This video includes interview with Thomas Pesquet in English and French.