Toulouse Métropole is particularly proud to welcome the XXXth Planetary Congress. Our community is co-organizing the event and is all the more flattered since no other French city had gathered one hundred space explorers since the very first edition of the Congress in Cernay in 1985.
The organization of the Congress coincides with the 20th anniversary of the Cité de l’espace. This emblematic place of Toulouse consecrates the 4th biggest French city as the Space European capital.
With over 6 millions visitors since its opening, the Cité de l’espace is a scientific culture centre dedicated to many different publics. It gives everyone the opportunity to dive into the adventure of space exploration but also to discover and better understand the natural phenomena surrounding us. The Cité de l’espace is a showcase for the success of Toulouse Métropole and its 37 municipalities – a region actively focused on the future.
Our city, which counts almost 800,000 inhabitants, is also the cradle of aeronautics. From the resourceful Clément Ader to the tremendous success of Airbus, including the pioneers of the Aéropostale, we always played a special part in the history of aeronautics. Above the sky, we occupy a leading position in space conquest thanks to the presence of CNES (National Space Studies Centre) and of high technology industries dedicated to the manufacturing of space items and other satellites.
For all of these reasons, Toulouse presides the Community of Ariane Cities – last February, for its 77th launch, Ariane 5 was topped with Toulouse City Hall logo. Toulouse has also been awarded European City of Science up until 2018.
Toulouse Métropole takes great pride in educating students with a promising professional future, such as Thomas Pesquet. He is a former student in ISAE-Supaéro and spent many months in the International Space Station - making him part of the very exclusive club of the 500 international space flyers – proof, if any were needed, that our economic and scientific area is full of women and men capable of facing extraordinary challenges!
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