French Superstar Chef Alain Ducasse Launches Haute Cuisine For Astronauts

When French astronaut Thomas Pesquet took off last week for a six-month mission on the International Space Station, he brought a tantalizing taste of home with him.

Breton lobster. Beef bourguignon. Chicken breast in a white wine mushroom sauce pressed with gingerbread. These are some of the meals that Pesquet, the first Frenchman in space since 2008, will enjoy thanks to the savoir-faire of two world-famous chefs.

Le Figaro's Hadrien Gonzales reports on French superstar chefs, Alain Ducasse and Thierry Marx, who are supplying Pesquet with 16 "out of this world" meals. That won't, of course, cover all of the astronaut's eating needs. But it does mean that Pesquet will have a chance, from time to time, to treat himself to some genuine made-in-France indulgences.

"These recipes are a psychological support in the context of long-term missions," says Romain Charles, a European Space Agency official in charge of day-to-day logistics for crew members.

This is the first time French chefs have tried their hand at space food. The idea itself, though, has existed for a few years now. In 2013, Italian chef Davide Scabin prepared a tiramisu and pesto risotto for astronaut Luca Parmitano, a fellow Italian. Two years later, Danish chef Thorsten Schmidt cooked up a sweet-and-sour corned-beef dish for his country's first space traveler, Andreas Mogensen.

Crunched by Erika Banoun

LE FIGARO

Le Figaro is a French daily founded in 1826 and published in Paris. The oldest national daily in France, Le Figaro is the second-largest national newspaper in the country after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, with an average circulation of about 331,000 copies Its editorial line is considered center-right. The newspaper is now owned by Dassault Media.

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