For astronaut Michele Tognini, invited to Claremont, “what is important is the technological challenge”
What memories do you keep from space?
“Great memories! The mingling of memories between the preparation which is nonetheless long and difficult and the flight itself which is a pleasure, a combination of the very important sensations of being in weightlessness, watching the Earth, seeing the stars and also scientific work with very interesting experiences that get better every year.”
So much so that I wanted to fly a second time and I wanted to travel a third time. “
We never get tired of it!
“Like all astronauts, it’s an addiction to space because we see Earth from another side, with no boundaries of course, and we’re all connected to this space that brings us together, joins us, brings us together and allows us to do better things, like an international space station to work together, to do future operations. To go to the Moon or Mars, to protect ourselves from asteroids…for the sake of Earth and the well-being of people on Earth.”
Is our planet damaged from space?
The population is 7 billion. We must have been at 2 billion when Gagarin stole. So we multiply 3 by 60 years.
The population lives with a lot of energy and energy does damage to the planet.
After that, we can’t really tell from space that the planet has been damaged.”
When you look at the solar system, Earth is perhaps the most beautiful place, the most beautiful, with its shimmering, blue, and incredible wealth of colours. There is almost a supernatural aspect.
“But it is true that it is also important, when we do careful analyzes, to see that the air is warming, for example, to be constantly careful! And I think spaceflight is the answer to that.”
that by saying?
“For example, thanks to space we saw that there was a hole in the ozone layer growing. Thanks to our satellites, we saw this hole in the ozone layer, and thanks to our researchers and scientists, we changed the way we live. We are there to see the damage and fix it.”
What about tourist trips, what do you think?
“When we say tourist trip, it is always a bit complicated. I have been to Soyuz tours and the participants have been doing experiences for us.”
Evening conferences, outdoors, at the foot of the Puy de Dôme, for the Astr’Auvergne Festival, July 15-17
“What I really liked especially about the tourist trips is the fact that after the third cruise, which was done by an Iranian-American woman, I saw her again at a conference. She was talking, presumably a tourist, at the same time with Baz Allgren, who was on the moon and was a professional And I found her words really good. We need those people who don’t belong at all to the professional body, allowing us to take a fresh look at the space.”
I hope that one day we will have philosophers, journalists, poets, painters… to describe space better. We are Catholics and we preach to Catholics!
What is theft that took place in the last days?
“When you look at flights like Richard Branson’s, you could say it’s a tourist flight. But finally, what it does, it makes you think about what we wanted to do with portable flights, which just go to the very extreme of the atmosphere to land far away on foreign land, Which is what Concorde was doing. At low altitude, but to go through higher altitudes to reduce braking.”
“The Guilty of the Decade” was filmed in the skies of Puy-de-Dome
“So there is always a scientific application. And it is a technological challenge as hell even if it is only 90 kilometres, which is not necessarily an area. Nothing, the important thing is the technological challenge, and above all the risk.”
It will continue on Saturday 17 July. The Astr’Auvergne Festival continues on Saturday, July 17, with “Should we be afraid of a void?”, moderated by Etienne Klein, physicist and philosopher, 9:30 pm, at the Panoramique des Dômes site, at the foot of the Puy de Dôme (free of charge) Before that, Etienne Klein will be signing at the Les Volcans bookshop, in Clermont, from 5 pm to 7 pm. astrauvergne.net.
Interview by Gael Chazal