Thomas Pesquet’s first dream was not to land the moon, but to become a professional basketball player. So, when Stade Toulousain decided to make a gift to its ambassador of choice for his return to Earth, the idea of a pair of sneakers imposed itself. But not just any.
“We had to do something never before seen, real space sneakers. The big advantage of Toulouse is to be the capital of aerospace, so we contacted companies that provided us with different materials”, says Jean-Emmanuel Pialoux, craftsman-bootmaker of the LBT Sneakers company, based in Toulouse. Starting with a pair of Air Jordan 1, with his partner they completely revised and designed it, keeping the codes of Stade Toulousain and the desires of the astronaut.
SPACE JORDAN 1
made by @lbtsneakers for Thomas Pesquet in partnership with Stade Toulousain 🚀
(made in particular from materials from the aerospace industry) pic.twitter.com/rDmEAlNkTf
— Gaw (@gawmess) January 28, 2022
To pass this stage of “bespoke”, tailor-made customization, the Hemeria company gave them betacloth, a resistant and insulating textile with which astronauts’ suits are made. But also PWM used for satellites. The Comat company supplied them with brass dedicated to space robotics and specially made them a transport box, like those that had been used to send the “blobs” to the International Space Station.
Insulating and resistant
“We wondered if it would resist friction, bending. We did a lot of tests so that it didn’t tear and that it held up over time,” explains Jean-Emmanuel Pialoux, who spent a hundred hours on this project.
This unique pair should not be doomed to stay in Thomas Pesquet’s closet. The astronaut who received his “Space Jordan 1” in the Rouge & Noir locker room assured that he had planned to put them on “on a few specific occasions”. Maybe he’ll take them if he goes to the moon. And will leave a unique mark on the ground first trodden by Neil Armstrong just over 52 years ago.