It's an immense moment of pride for the whole team as French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and his crewmates return to Earth. The four astronauts splashed down successfully off the coast of Florida in a SpaceX capsule. It marks the end of Pesquet's six-month mission in space, where he became the first ever French astronaut to command the International Space Station. We spoke to his colleague and friend Rémi Canton, who led the mission for the CNES, the French space studies agency.

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet has already made his childhood dream come true and will soon relive it again. In the spring of 2021, he will return to space on board SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, headed for the International Space Station (ISS). In an interview with FRANCE 24, Pesquet told us more about his mission. He also reacted to the historic launch of the same Crew Dragon capsule from Florida on a flight to the ISS with four astronauts on board. Sunday's launch is NASA's first fully fledged mission sending a crew into orbit on board a privately owned spacecraft.

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet will be the first European to fly on board the new SpaceX Dragon 2, which is due to blast off from Cape Canaveral for the International Space Station in the spring of 2021. Pesquet already spent six months on board the ISS from November 2016 to June 2017. He spoke to FRANCE 24 about training for his return to space, why his new mission is called "Alpha" and why he thinks a manned mission to Mars will happen within his lifetime.

Expedition 51 crew members Oleg Novitskiy and Thomas Pesquet bid an emotional farewell to Commander Peggy Whitson aboard the International Space Station, before returning to earth.