“I want to give young people this opportunity to believe in the future”: Sophie Adenot bursts into tears on RTL

On October 4, Sophie Adenot returned to Earth after spending 235 days aboard the International Space Station. A grueling return physically but also emotionally, particularly because of the gap between what she was able to admire from space and what is happening at the moment in France.

“It’s still a little difficult to talk about it. I think I haven't completely landed in that direction. When you see the Earth from up there, it is magnificent. We observe these landscapes as far as the eye can see which are, on the scale of the continents, very beautiful, the magnificent oceans, the islands, and even the cloud systems around. We observe the atmosphere which is very thin, which makes the Earth both beautiful and precious, but enveloped in this small protective layer…” explained the astronaut this Monday, November 2 at the microphone of RTL.

According to Sophie Adenot, spending so much time in space caused “cognitive dissonance” for her. “We find it difficult to understand this gap between the immensity of beauty and the wonder that we see up there and the daily reality which is difficult for many French people and which bear witness to suffering. I have a lot of empathy for everything I see here,” she continued, very moved by “not understanding what is happening.”

In tears, the astronaut seemed very touched by the “suffering of people losing their bearings” in particular the students who have demonstrated en masse in recent weeks. “During my entire mission, I tried to communicate, give a little glimmer of hope, give a little something positive, a little bit of freshness. And to see that there is all this suffering in the end, for which I have a lot of empathy… I want to give young people this possibility of believing in the future,” she said.

In front of her, Marc-Olivier Fogiel wanted to reassure and console her. “I have to tell you, Sophie, you did it. When you posted your videos online every Sunday, really, in this complicated world, you did it, Sophie. Frankly, it was very successful,” he concluded.