Thomas is a member of ESA’s astronaut class of 2009, and first flew to the Space Station in 2016 for his Proxima mission. Now he needs your help to find a suitable name for his next trip to space – a six-month mission filled with science experiments and research in microgravity and Space Station maintenance.

The name of an astronaut mission is one of its most iconic elements. It embodies the mission’s purpose, reflects the astronaut’s personality and is referenced anytime ESA reports on the astronaut’s training and work in space.

Finding the name will be the first step in creating a patch that Thomas will wear on official astronaut outfits and, as such, should be: easy to pronounce in most languages (including English and French), short enough to figure on a logo, and original enough to capture the uniqueness of a space mission.

As well as being directly involved in European spaceflight history, the winner of this naming contest, proposed by ESA in partnership with France’s space agency CNES, will received a signed mission patch that will be flown on the International Space Station with Thomas.

Are you feeling inspired? Send us your submission by midnight Tuesday 12 May CEST and the result could be out of this world.

Please read the conditions below before submitting your entry.

Participation in the contest

• The contest is open from Wednesday 29 April 10:00 (CEST) until Tuesday 12 May 2020 midnight (CEST).
• Participants must complete and submit the contest form online.
• Participants from any country may submit a mission name for consideration. Minors must also complete the Parental Permission section of the form.
• Employees of ESA, suppliers, contractors and their immediate family members and/or those living in the same household, are not eligible to participate in the contest.
• No group submissions: only individual submissions are considered valid.
• No more than one mission name may be submitted per participant.
• The submitted mission name must not be a proper noun unless it holds a widely known signification such as a mythological name.
• The submitted mission name must be a single word without spaces, dashes or symbols, in the Latin alphabet.

Winner Selection

• There will be one single winner.
• The winning name will become the official European name of Thomas’ mission and the winner will receive a signed mission patch that will be flown on the International Space Station during Thomas Pesquet’s mission.
• The winner is determined by judging criteria based on merit alone and in compliance with ESA’ values.
• If several participants submit the same winning mission name, then the first person who submitted this by filling in the contest form online will be considered the winner.
• The winner will be selected during summer 2020 and notified as soon as possible thereafter.

You can find further information on Thomas’ first mission name, Proxima, here. Good luck!

Click here to fill out the form and submit your entry.