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ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet works on the Fluidics experiment inside the Space Station's European Columbus laboratory.

Posting on social media, Thomas wrote: "Here is another cool CNES experiment that is looking into how fluids behave in space. The two spheres hold coloured water that is stirred by vibration. Researchers on Earth will analyse the images we send down to better understand how liquids behave in containers amongst other things. This will be useful to get every last drop of fuel out of a spacecraft tank (not as easy as you might think without gravity!)".

Thomas' Proxima mission is the ninth long-duration mission for an ESA astronaut. It is named after the closest star to the Sun, continuing a tradition of naming missions with French astronauts after stars and constellations.

During Proxima, Thomas will have performed around 50 scientific experiments for ESA and France’s space agency CNES, as well as take part in many research activities for the other Station partners. The mission is part of ESA’s vision to use Earth-orbiting spacecraft as a place to live and work for the benefit of European society while using the experience to prepare for future voyages of exploration further into the Solar System.