Thomas Pesquet and Arnaud Prost are about to make history in distinctly different ways. The two French astronauts will embark on separate missions to space beginning next year under a landmark agreement sealed between France and Vast, the California-based commercial space company. For Pesquet, it marks a return to the orbital realm—his third stay on the International Space Station, where he will serve as mission commander starting mid-2027. But it's Prost's journey that breaks new ground entirely: he will become the first crewed visitor to Haven-1, the world's first commercial space station, in a mission expected to launch in 2026.
France's commitment to the commercial space frontier reflects broader ambitions for the nation's role in the cosmos. "This confirms France's space ambitions," President Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday after unveiling the deal at a Paris conference. The French space agency CNES called Prost's Haven-1 mission "a world first" for sending an astronaut to a privately developed space station. After years of delays, Vast—founded in 2021 by cryptocurrency billionaire Jed McCaleb—has repeatedly insisted that Haven-1 will finally be deployed next year, positioning the company as a serious contender in the emerging commercial space economy.
Both missions will launch aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets, placing the French endeavors within a larger ecosystem of private spaceflight operators reshaping access to orbit. Prost's role as test engineer on Haven-1's inaugural crewed mission is crucial; the mission will demonstrate whether Vast's station design can actually support human habitation and operations. Yet the Pesquet mission carries its own distinctive significance. If approved by the International Space Station's partnership panel—which includes NASA, the European Space Agency, Russia's Roscosmos, Japan's JAXA, and the Canadian Space Agency—Pesquet will become "the first non-American to command a U.S. capsule," according to CNES.
At 48, Pesquet sees this mid-2027 mission not as a career pinnacle but as a stepping stone to something far more ambitious. Speaking to the AFP, he made clear that commanding an ISS mission, while prestigious, is ultimately about maintaining his credentials for a more distant goal. "For me, the long-term goal is the Artemis mission to the moon," he said, noting that he believes the first lunar opportunity could arrive as early as 2029. The European Space Agency committed last year to sending three European astronauts—German, Italian, and French—to participate in NASA's Artemis program, with a target return to the moon by 2030. Pesquet's confidence that a 2027 space station mission will not interfere with lunar ambitions speaks to his disciplined thinking about long-term opportunities.
These two missions unfold against a broader transformation in space infrastructure. The International Space Station, continuously inhabited for more than 25 years, is scheduled to conclude its mission in 2030. Vast aims to help fill that void, with plans eventually to deploy Haven-2, an enlarged successor to Haven-1, and potentially transition it into the primary destination for long-duration space missions. For France, securing seats on both a commercial station and an ISS mission ensures the nation maintains a visible presence as the space economy reshapes itself. The deal represents not just two astronaut flights, but France's calculated bet on which futures of spaceflight will matter most.