FriedmanMkIII t1_iypbul1 wrote on December 3, 2022 at 2:39 AM

Heaven forbid the position goes to the people who have proven they can do the best job humanly possible regardless of irrelevant social or political puffery.

Ryermeke t1_iypcmot wrote on December 3, 2022 at 2:46 AM

I mean, I get the sentiment, but the astronaut in question is Thomas Pesquet, who is more than qualified having spent well over a year's time in space on multiple missions, and with just shy of 40 hours EVA time. He even brought a saxophone to the ISS. Fuck it, send him to the moon.

eskaps t1_iypgfxi wrote on December 3, 2022 at 3:18 AM

All this makes him the most experienced ESA astronaut, both in terms of total time in space and of total EVA time. He's also one of the very few Europeans to ever be ISS commander. If you need to pick an ESA astronaut to go to the moon he's not only the best pick, he's actually already at the top of the list. The original plan was to take an ESA astronaut on a later Artemis mission. What Macron is actually lobbying for is that this happens on the first crewed landing instead. Thomas is the most qualified astronaut (both current and ever) outside of the USA and Russia, and if my data is correct, the 8th most experienced currently active astronaut worldwide, and of the 7 in front of him, only 1 is not Russian. I'd say that makes him objectively very fit for the job, not just from ESA but from the whole pool of western astronauts.

ktv13 t1_iyq7qhv wrote on December 3, 2022 at 8:15 AM

Alexander Gerst has also been commander if I remember correctly but not sure how his experience compares to Pesquets.

FriedmanMkIII t1_iyqeec3 wrote on December 3, 2022 at 9:54 AM

That all makes sense as criteria for serious consideration. I am more agitated by the article than the reality of the situation, honestly.

toodroot t1_iyt2rsj wrote on December 3, 2022 at 11:09 PM

There are a bunch of candidates who are roughly equally qualified for the job.