Pika-Chu…se Your Destination! Pikachu Was a Real Astronaut — and the Mission Starts Today
Quick Summary
A Pikachu plush toy spent 67 days aboard the International Space Station earlier this year. Now the European Space Agency and Pokémon are celebrating with a big exhibition that opens TODAY. The fun is starting in Paris!
What Happened?
Here is a sentence you never expected to read: Pikachu has been to space.
Earlier this year, a Pikachu plush toy traveled to the International Space Station (ISS). It arrived on April 11, 2026, with ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot. It stayed on board until June 17. In those 67 days, Pikachu completed about 1,040 laps around Earth.
To picture that: if you walked around a full-size running track 1,040 times, you’d cover about 416 kilometers. Pikachu did the same thing — but in orbit, moving at 28,000 kilometers per hour!
This was part of a new partnership between the European Space Agency (ESA) and The Pokémon Company International. ESA is Europe’s official space agency. Together, they want to get young people excited about space exploration.
Starting TODAY — September 19 — a special exhibition opens at ESA’s headquarters in Paris, France. The show mixes space science with Pokémon characters. Visitors can learn how European astronauts live on the ISS, how satellites work, and how rockets launch — all through the world of Pokémon!
The exhibition will then travel to other ESA centers across Europe through October. After that, it moves to museums and science centers all the way through April 2027.
There’s even a special Pokémon GO event coming! Starting October 4, players at participating science museums can meet Astronaut Pikachu in the game.
Why Does It Matter?
Space agencies want everyone — including kids — to love science. Teaming up with Pokémon is a clever way to make space feel exciting and fun. The ISS is a real, working laboratory 400 kilometers above Earth. Real humans live and work there every day.
When famous characters like Pikachu go to space — even as a toy! — it helps kids imagine themselves there, too. And that is exactly the kind of imagination that creates future astronauts, engineers, and scientists.
Big Words
- ESA — the European Space Agency; a team of scientists from many European countries who explore space together
- Orbit — the curved path a spacecraft or planet follows as it circles around Earth or the Sun
- Exhibition — a special display or show, usually at a museum or public space, where people come to learn and explore
- Collaboration — when two or more groups work together on a shared project or goal
- Astronaut — a person trained to travel and work in space; from the Greek words for “star” and “sailor”
Fun Fact
The ISS travels so fast that it circles the entire Earth once every 90 minutes. Pikachu’s 67 days on board means the little yellow Pokémon zoomed around our planet more than 1,000 times!
Think About It
If you could send any object — toy, book, or game — to the International Space Station to represent Earth, what would you choose and why?
Sources
- ESA.int — ESA and The Pokémon Company International reveal Europe-wide exhibition and astronaut Pikachu experience
- Space.com — Pikachu in space! New ESA-Pokemon partnership sends the electric mouse to the ISS
- UFO Feed / Space.com — ESA, Pokémon Unveil Europe Exhibition, Astronaut Pikachu