French engineer takes command of International Space Station

Aerospace engineer Thomas Pesquet is the first French national to command the orbiting research facility

Thomas Pesquet has become the first French national—and only the fourth European—to take command of the International Space Station, an intergovernmental research facility that has been orbiting the Earth since 1998.

Aerospace engineer Pesquet (pictured, centre) took over the leadership of the ISS from Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide on 4 October and will hold the role until his crew returns to Earth in November.