Thomas Bisket: The amazing space swimming session (video)

Since leaving the International Space Station on April 23, Thomas Pesquet has regularly shared photos and videos from his daily life. Between two work sessions and a spacewalk, the astronaut filmed himself “swimming” on the International Space Station. A performance worth the detour.

In a video shared on his Instagram account, Thomas Pesquet has already embarked on a series of breaststroke moves. They are first carried out easily as long as the astronaut is on site, and the work becomes more difficult when it comes to moving forward. Can we swim on the International Space Station? asks Thomas Pesquet in a comment.

“Not really,” the astronaut explains. “But we can pretend,” the 40-year-old continues. To illustrate, “When a spacecraft pushes the International Space Station into a higher orbit, we remain stationary but the station moves around us. With some swimming motions, the illusion is nearly perfect.”

Running, cycling and weightlifting

While waiting for his return to Earth, Thomas Pesquet will therefore have to content himself with cycling, running or bodybuilding inside the International Space Station. While the seven crew members are in fact forced to exercise for at least two hours a day, in order to combat the effects of weightlessness on their muscles and skeletons, these are the only sporting activities that can be practiced on board the ship. Physical exercises are made possible thanks to accessories adapted to weightlessness: a bicycle without a saddle, a wall-mounted treadmill and, more traditionally, a weight-lifting machine.

The daily sports sessions they have to perform are attached so they don’t float, which requires careful organization as Thomas Pesquet assures: “Our planners are the protagonists of the Tetris agenda, their work is incredibly complex. Everyone should be busy, have time to eat, and exercise , and we must take into account the peculiarities of the machines …”.

And to clarify: “For example, some experiences can be distorted by small vibrations transmitted in the station while running, so we cannot use the treadmill while working. And since there are 7 of us on board, each has 2 hours of exercise per day, that means 14 An hour of sports machine use every day.” Great performance.