The scene of French astronaut Pesguet playing the saxophone on the space station in the documentary "16 Sunrises" became the opening of "Eight Minutes in Paris" at the closing ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games. (Infographic/Figure)
On the evening of August 8, 2021, the Tokyo Olympic Games came to an end, and the 2024 Paris Olympic Games took over the baton. In the "Eight Minutes in Paris" promo, 43-year-old French astronaut Thomas Pesquet played the last melody of "Marseille" with saxophone in the dome cabin of the International Space Station, and the vast universe, quiet space and melodious music intertwined to amaze the world.
The same scene appeared in 2016 and became a highlight in the documentary "16 Sunrises". November 18, 2016, was a milestone day for Pesgay. On this day, he made his first mission, following NASA's senior astronaut Whitson and Russian astronaut Nowitzki on the "Soyuz" spacecraft, lifted off from the Baikonur Space Launch Site in Kazakhstan, and went to the International Space Station for 196 days to carry out the 50th and 51st expeditions. For this, he has been preparing for seven years.
Documentary filmmaker Pierre-Emmanuel Legoff followed Pesguet for a year until he left for the Baynuker Cosmodrome. Pesgay's wife, who is not a peer who works for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, is often on camera and comments that Pesgay is "always calm and focused" when she does things. Talking about the difference between the two people's jobs, Pesge said, "She is saving the world, and I bring dreams to children." Legoff added: "It also brings dreams to the childlike adults." ”
The title of the documentary, "16 Sunrises," refers to the spectacle that astronauts can see on the International Space Station — because the space station is 450 kilometers high and 28,000 kilometers per hour, circling the earth every 1.5 hours, astronauts can see 16 sunrises and sunsets a day.
In the nearly two-hour documentary "16 Sunrises", the audience follows Pesge's perspective to witness a thrilling spacewalk, and feel the smallness and fate of human beings in a magnificent cosmic scenery blockbuster.
The camera captures Pesgate before the expedition. His luggage was streamlined, and his favorite instrument, the saxophone, was left at home because of his 2.4 kilograms, more than the weight of luggage allowed per astronaut (1.5 kilograms), and he took with him the books of his idol Saint Exupéry, Southern Post, Night Flight, and The Wind and Sand Stars.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a famous French pilot and writer, is the work of the Little Prince. He once said: "I want to write not only a novel or a simple memoir, but to share the accumulated experiences of many years of piloting, through these memories, to present the colorful influences and anecdotes of this profession, the joys and pains in between, related to pilots, but also related to people." 」 Saint-Exupéry had a life of adventure, and in 1943, at his own urging, the 43-year-old pilot returned to Algiers, a French anti-war base in North Africa. His superiors, taking into account his physical and age condition, only agreed to his five missions, but he asked for eight. On July 31, 1944, at the age of 44, he set sail for his eighth mission, and finally mysteriously disappeared over the Mediterranean Sea, never to return, becoming the most mysterious legend in the history of French literature.
Director Legoff's gift to Pesguet is a doll of little princes. Pesgay wrapped it in Christmas stockings and promised the director that he would take the little prince with him to watch the sunrise on the International Space Station.
On November 18, 2016, the Soyuz spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station after a long six-hour flight. "Every second was dizzyingly heavy, and then life started again. But at first his feeling was not flying, but trapped in a wet and cold cave, the rumble of the engine like an ocean wave. Pesguet later quoted St. Exupéry's text on Twitter to describe his state when he first flew.
Since entering the International Space Station, Pesgay has shared his photographs of the beauty of the earth and comments on different social media platforms every day, becoming a favorite celebrity in france, everyone affectionately calls him "Peggy", and his story has been composed into a French children's song, and the children's voices sing in unison "Everyone pay attention, they are going to take off, firmly tied to the rocket, Thomas Pesguet and his team members, will live on the International Space Station for six months"
Pesgay often gets questions from children from Earth, some of which are concerns about the safety of their space explorations: "What do you do if there is an asteroid alarm?" Pesgay replied: "We can manually adjust the orbit, in case the asteroid gets too close, hide in the Union, close the hatch, and hope not to be hit by it." In case of being hit, we return to Earth. ”
More often, children are curious about the small details of his life in space. Christmas is coming, the children are curious about what kind of christmas they will eat, whether there is a Christmas tree in the space station, Pesgay replied one by one: "We will eat yellow wine stewed chicken with morel mushrooms, the appetizer is beef tongue, and the dessert is apple cake." I also helped my companions prepare Christmas tree balls with their names on them, some small decorations, and gave them chocolates and small gifts. He never had nightmares on the space station and slept well every day, "Sleeping in a gravity-free state is comfortable, floating is more comfortable than sleeping in bed." He said.
Of course, everyone cared about his saxophone and asked him if he had brought it to space. Pesgey said no, the reason is too space-consuming.
On February 27, 2017, four months after joining the International Space Station, Pesgay celebrated his 39th birthday when he received a huge surprise from his family – his beloved saxophone. It had been arranged by NASA, sent from Earth by a supply ship a few days earlier, and was hidden in the Boston Control Center until his birthday. "I didn't even know it was hidden, and my family was involved in the planning. It wasn't on the list because I had looked at the list and it was hidden. I'm really happy. Pesgay said.
During the six-month mission to the space station, Pesgay and his companions received "bad news" only once. A Russian space supply ship lifted off from the Baikonur base, but the solar panels failed to unfold smoothly, and six minutes later, the spacecraft exploded, the connection was interrupted, and finally disappeared over Russia. The spacecraft was scheduled to travel to the International Space Station to resupply Pesgay and six other crew members, and more than 2.5 tons of cargo were damaged in the explosion, mainly scientific equipment and maintenance parts. Fortunately, it was just a cargo ship, and there were no casualties. "Human life is the most important thing." Pesgay heard the news and discussed it with his teammates.
On January 13, 2017, Pesgay was about to perform his first spacewalk, paired with American astronaut Sean Kimbro, the leader of the 50th expedition on the International Space Station, whose mission was to plug in new lithium-ion batteries to the ISS's power supply system. These new generation batteries arrived at the International Space Station through the Japanese space ship HTV, three batteries shaped like a large refrigerator, adding up to two hundred kilograms, by the Houston Control Center in the United States electronic arm and a robot with a hand are carried to the installation position, the last step of installation procedures, need astronauts out of the warehouse to complete.
The 5-hour, 58-minute spacewalk was so successful that Kimbro and Paige not only completed the task of replacing the batteries ahead of schedule, but also replaced a malfunctioning camera for the International Space Station, changed the position of the protective equipment to prevent micrometalite rain, and filmed the equipment outside the space station.
From the lens, the spacewalk is romantic, and it has also become a classic scene in popular science propaganda films and various science fiction films. But in fact, the spacewalk is not a romantic performance, it requires several months of training preparation, requiring astronauts to work closely with many ground commanders. Before leaving, Pesgay and his teammates trained in the pool of the Houston control center for many days, they need to know exactly what is the most appropriate action, what is the sequence of each action, when performing the mission, the astronauts also have to constantly check the condition of the spacesuit, the condition of the heat shield, especially the condition of the gloves, because when performing different tasks after leaving the warehouse, the gloves are very easy to be pierced by the tool.
The teammates who co-flew the 50th and 51st missions on the International Space Station with Pesgay came from different countries, and the only female team member, Whitson, was from the United States, who set a record for the longest stay in space for an American astronaut, for a total of 534 days. Then-U.S. President Donald Trump, who connected with them at the Houston Control Center, said to Whitson, "Proud of you." Trump also asked how Jack Fisher, an American astronaut who had just met with Whitson, felt after arriving.
"It's spectacular," Fisher said, "and my Russian friend Fido Yukkin and I flew from Kazakhstan to space on a Russian spaceship, and as soon as we reached orbit, our vision changed immediately, and I saw a blue lifeline orbiting the Earth, and six hours later we landed on the space station; the next day we started experimenting on Japanese ships, and we were looking for new drugs, drugs to treat muscular dystrophy; a few hours later, I watched the French team member Thomas Pesgay pilot the Canadian mechanical arm, capturing the spacecraft from Virginia..."
In the life of the earth, everyone belongs to different countries and different camps, but in the International Space Station, the concept of all countries has been blurred, these six or seven astronauts share supplies, support each other in danger, and what everyone studies together is to find a good medicine to fight disease and deteriorate the ecological environment. In the vast cosmic world, human beings seem incomparably small. Saint-Exupéry described it in Night Flight: "Everything seems so peaceful, there is no violence, no famine, no climate change, no war, no turmoil, only blue motherships, all pilots sailing in silence, defining the gravity of the situation." Above this, this far above, no borders, no countries, no limits, no limits, no limits to creativity. The mind is a super space station, designed for the ascent of the universe, rising to 250 miles, they rise, continue to circle, challenge reality, change their horizons, look at the upside-down world, the spectacular beauty of the void, expect more than expected sights, and remain tolerant and accepting. The ocean, the plains and the rivers come into view... You become part of all things, dive deep into space, dive deep into space with them, find peace with them. ”
When not tasked, Pesgay likes to stay in the cockpit. In the documentary, he lights a lamp in the dark, illuminates his cockpit, monitors the dashboard to fly into the night, like a dive, and then because there is no shaking or vibration, the gyroscope does not move, the height and engine speed are fixed, he stretches his body slightly, rests his head on the back of the leather chair, and begins a deep flight meditation. "If we could survive the difficult task, what could we say to humanity?" Documentary narrator asked.
Pesgay did not answer, but blew the saxophone, and melodious music sounded in the cosmic skyline. This scene is the same as the opening of "Eight Minutes of Paris" broadcast at the closing ceremony of the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games. The Olympic spirit emphasizes "mutual understanding, friendship, solidarity and fair competition," which is also the signal of the astronauts on the International Space Station in 16 Sunrises.
Southern Weekend reporter Li Yilan