Visit to Florida by the French Ambassador to the United States [fr]

The French Ambassador to the United States, Mr. Philippe Etienne, visited Florida for the occasion of the launch of Mission Alpha with the French Astronaut from the European Space Agency (ESA) Thomas Pesquet.

During this second trip to the Sunshine State, the Ambassador met Lieutenant Governor Ms. Jeanette Nuñez and the Mayor of Tampa. On the Space Coast, he spoke with the Mayor of Orange County and met the actors of the new space industry in Florida.

Meeting with Economic Representatives of the Tampa Bay Area

On April 19th, Mr. Etienne spoke with company representatives, port and airport authorities, local elected officials as well as researchers in the medical field at the Bay of Tampa.

The emphasis on Franco-American military cooperation

 * On April 20th, the Ambassador visited MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa to meet with Admiral Malloy, Deputy Commander of the US Coalition Forces of the Central Command, and the Army Brigadier General French Loïc Mizon, Head of the French Army detachment present at US Central Command.

The Ambassador and the General together signed a column published in the Tampa Bay Times welcoming the cooperation between the General Staff of the French Armed Forces and the American Army. That is to show the 20 years of uninterrupted, strategic cooperation between two major players in the fight against terrorism.

 * The Mayor of Tampa, Jane Castor, former chief of the city’s police, and the Ambassador discussed public transport that the mayor intends to increase in her constituency. The Ambassador underlined the know-how of French companies in this field, some of which are already present in the region, such as Veolia and Transdev. By relying in particular on the sister-cities relationship between Tampa and Le Havre, many other projects have been mentioned.

Culture and education

Welcomed by the Director of the Museum, Mr. Hans Hine, the Ambassador paid a visit to the Dalí Museum in Saint-Petersburg, in the presence of Mr. Richard Kriseman, Mayor of the city and the Franco-American architect Yann Weymouth, designer of the Salvador Dali Museum in St Petersburg.
The museum is planning a Picasso exhibition for January 2022, ranging from his Cubist period to his late works, with the theme of the Mediterranean.

Teaching in French was celebrated during the inauguration of the private school approved by the French Ministry of Education, the "French American School of Tampa Bay" with all the staff of the establishment, as well as many parents and students.
Ribbon cutting ceremony and presentation of the cycle 1 homologation certificate:

Meeting with the crew

On the night of 21-22, the Ambassador had the opportunity to discuss with the four astronauts of the space mission, especially with our compatriot, Thomas Pesquet.

The 10th French astronaut to have been in space, Thomas Pesquet was selected in May 2009 from more than 8,000 candidates. After his initial training at the European Astronaut Center (EAC) in Cologne, Germany and his additional technical and operational training in Europe, Russia and the United States, he flew for the first time for a 6-month mission aboard the ISS in March 2014 (Proxima Mission).

Press interviews

 * With the Miami Herald: On the morning of April 21st, the Ambassador spoke with Miami Herald Caribbean correspondent, Jacqueline Charles, in a Facebook live that you can find here.

Together, they dealt with economic relations between the various regions and overseas departments and their close neighbors, including the United States, as well as the development of these links, starting with the extension of student exchange programs. France’s actions in the Caribbean region, particularly in Haiti, were the subject of specific discussions, France having a privileged relationship with the Haitian people.
Our relations with the countries of Latin America as well as our actions in the fight against global warming, drug trafficking and the pandemic were also discussed during this exceptional Facebook live.

 * With WLRN: The Ambassador then gave an interview with Tom Hudson, chief news reporter for WLRN South Florida radio (affiliate of NPR), where he discussed the recovery of international tourism, space cooperation and the fight against climate change. An interview that you can find here.

Central Florida, a region in full expansion, where French entrepreneurs are present

The Ambassador then spoke with Mr. Jerry Demings, Mayor of Orange County; a county that has become the 5th most populous in the state of Florida.

These numerous talks made it possible to promote France’s space cooperation via CNES with NASA, France’s economic footprint in Florida as well as its action in regional cooperation, particularly in the Caribbean and Latin America.
See also the paragraph below concerning the meeting with French and American entrepreneurs from the region.

The French roots of Florida

On April 22, accompanied by François Kloc, Honorary Consul of Jacksonville, the Ambassador visited the Fort Caroline National Memorial, a replica of the Fort erected in the 16thhttps://missionalpha.cnes.fr/sites/... century by the French Huguenots (based on illustrations by Jacques Le Moyen and Théodore de Bry).

This memorial recounts the expeditions of the French naval captains, Jean Ribault and René Goulaine de Laudonnière, who took command of three ships to leave France, on February 1562, with more than 150 colonists to seek territories in the New World where the persecuted Huguenots could settle.

Economic meetings with representatives of the Space Coast business community and further interview with the press

At the invitation of the Brevard County Economic Development Commission (Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space Coast, EDC) and the company Thales InFlyt present in Melbourne, the Ambassador participated in an economic meeting allowing him to discuss with French engineers from OneWeb Satellites, Vision Systems, and Thalès, as well as representatives of the American organizations Boeing, Florida Power and Light, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Space Florida and the authorities of Port Canaveral.

This sequence also allowed the Ambassador to answer questions from journalists from the local press, including those from Florida Today. You can read the article published here.

The launch of Mission Alpha with French astronaut Thomas Pesquet

With only a day’s delay of the initially planned departure, French ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet (biography) and his 3 teammates boarded the Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station where they will stay for 6 months.
During Mission Alpha, more than 200 scientific missions and experiments will be carried out by the 4 astronauts! 12 will be carried out directly by Thomas Pesquet aboard the ISS, including "Dreams" aimed at studying the sleep of astronauts during long-term manned space missions or "Cerebral Aging", which will study the aging of the brain at the molecular level and the impact of radiation on human physiology. Lear more about those experiments here.