International Space Summit gets underway in Paris

The two-day International Space Summit got underway in Paris on Wednesday (September 9, 2026) in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron.

Mr. Macron said that the summit will see the participation of 90 countries, and more than 50 projects are expected to be signed, bringing in billions of investments.

“This space summit is a unique opportunity for all. More than 50 projects are expected to be signed during the summit. Projects between France and Germany and France and the UAE will be signed. There will be a lot of big investments. We also confirm the Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite (IRIS²), which is a very important big programme for us in Europe. We will have a series of meetings, common investments, common programmes and partnerships to strengthen European space,” Mr. Macron said. 

Greek astronaut Adrianos Golemis, a flight surgeon, was announced as the first astronaut from Greece to embark on a private mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

France’s President Emmanuel Macron, French European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Pesquet and Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos pose with astronauts and members of the Vast space programme during the International Space Summit at the Grand Palais in Paris.
| Photo Credit:
Reuters

“It is a very special moment for Greece, and I do believe that Adrianos, apart from the very interesting experiments which he will conduct onboard the ISS, will be a true inspiration for young Greek kids to focus on science and technology, engineering, and mathematics and to dream again and move away from screens and not be attached to social media,” the Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotaki, said. 

The flight will be part of the first private astronaut mission to the ISS that NASA awarded to Vast, a private American aerospace company.

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet will be the commander of the Vast mission, and astronaut Aleš Svoboda will be the pilot. The mission is planned for 2027 on the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and will be launched onboard the Falcon 9 rocket.

India’s participation

ISRO Chairman Dr. V. Narayanan led an Indian delegation to the summit and is expected to meet various space agencies and companies.

“We have come for the summit here in Paris. We met officials from Hungary today and are expected to meet ESA officials and other delegations which are participating in the meeting,” Dr. Narayanan told The Hindu.

(This reporter is in Paris at the invitation of France’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs to cover the International Space Summit).