France secures dual space missions with US firm Vast for 2027
The agreement, confirmed by President Emmanuel Macron, marks a significant shift in France’s space policy and highlights the growing role of private enterprise in orbital governance.
France has entered into a formal agreement with the US-based space company Vast to dispatch two astronauts on separate missions in 2027. The deal, announced by Vast on Tuesday and confirmed by President Emmanuel Macron on X late Monday, will see Thomas Pesquet and Arnaud Prost embark on distinct voyages that will each last approximately two weeks.
Under the terms of the arrangement, Arnaud Prost will serve as the test engineer on the inaugural crewed mission to Haven-1, the first commercial space station developed by Vast. France’s space agency, CNES, described the mission as a "world-first" for an astronaut flight to a private orbital facility. Haven-1 is scheduled for deployment next year following a series of delays, with Prost’s flight marking his first trip to space.
Thomas Pesquet, who has previously served on the International Space Station twice, will command a private Vast mission to the ISS. Scheduled to launch no earlier than mid-2027, this assignment would mark Pesquet’s third stay on the orbital laboratory. If approved by the station’s international partners, the mission would represent a significant institutional milestone, as no non-American has ever commanded a US capsule.
Both missions are set to launch on SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets. However, Pesquet’s flight to the ISS requires formal approval from a panel comprising NASA, the European Space Agency, Russia’s Roscosmos, Japan’s JAXA, and the Canadian Space Agency. The ISS partnership, which has maintained continuous human habitation for more than a quarter of a century, is currently scheduled to conclude its mission in 2030.
Vast, founded in 2021 by cryptocurrency billionaire Jed McCaleb, aims to eventually replace the ISS with Haven-2, a larger successor model. The agreement underscores France’s strategic ambitions in the evolving commercial space sector, with President Macron stating that the deal confirms the nation’s commitment to maintaining a leading role in space exploration and infrastructure development.
