There’s nothing Pikachu cannot do, I am convinced. He’s a bit like Barbie in that regard. He’s been a detective, a rock star, a pro wrestler, a pilot, a businessperson, a scientist…the list goes on. Now, Pikachu has also been an astronaut, and has been to actual, real-life, literal space, having paid a visit to the International Space Station (ISS) earlier this year.
That’s him! That’s Pikachu! This Pikachu plush went to space with astronaut Sophie Adenot of the European Space Agency in April of this year, visited the ISS, and went around the Earth 1,040 times before returning in June after 67 days. Good job, Pikachu!
Incidentally, it seems like two Pikas went to space with Adenot, as the one in this video is a different Pikachu:
The presence of the Pikachu plush in space is really just a collaboration between the ESA and The Pokémon Company for World Space Week, through which the ESA hopes to promote its mission of doing more science in space for the betterment of humanity, and through which The Pokémon Company hopes to promote selling more plush toys. There’s some sort of exhibition going on that you can attend at various ESA facilities and museums across Europe from October 4 through 10 to celebrate this, and The Pokémon Company is coming out with an adorable line of merch featuring astronaut Pika. And of course, there’s an astronaut Pikachu coming to Pokémon GO during this period, too.
Yeah, it’s a marketing stunt, whatever. I’m still just…fascinated by the concept of a Pikachu in space. While I’m sure astronauts bring along all sorts of personal items with them to the ISS, I am also certain that baggage space is at a premium here, and taking along not one, but two Pikachus just for a couple of cute photo opps seems ostentatious to me. But now I want to know: is Pikachu the first Pokémon in space? Have any other ISS astronauts ever taken a different Pokémon plush with them? Snoopy of Peanuts fame has been to space, and once some astronauts created a dinosaur plush in space. I have yet to see evidence of other Pokémon going out there, though.
We need to get some real weird guys up there. Take Alolan Exeggutor, or Lickitung, or Eiscue or something. Something that has no business being in space at all. For, you know, science or whatever!