A Pikachu plush spent 67 days in orbit, and ESA is putting it on tour

The European Space Agency's collaboration with The Pokémon Company International now has dates, venues and one extremely well-travelled plush toy. The exhibition opens during ESA Open Days 2026, starting at ESA Headquarters in Paris on 19 and 20 September, and the centre of the campaign is an Astronaut Pikachu plush that has already been to space.

Sixty-seven days and roughly 1,040 orbits

That plush flew to the International Space Station during ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot's mission. ESA says it spent 67 days in orbit between 11 April and 17 June 2026 and completed about 1,040 laps of the planet. An image released with the announcement shows it in a white astronaut suit floating inside the Cupola, the European-built observation module, with Earth's oceans and cloud tops filling the windows behind it. Adenot has now spent more than 200 days in space and completed three spacewalks over the summer.

Where the tour goes, and when

After Paris, the ESA x Pokémon exhibition visits ESRIN in Rome on 25 September, ESTEC in Noordwijk on 26 and 27 September, ESOC in Darmstadt on 2 October, ESAC at Villanueva de la Cañada near Madrid on 3 October and ECSAT in Harwell on 10 October, all inside the agency's Open Days. From early October 2026 until April 2027 it moves on to public venues: Cité de l'espace in Toulouse, the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias in Valencia, the Deutsches Museum in Nuremberg, the Euro Space Center in Transinne, Lucca Comics & Games, the Science Museum in London and Space Expo in Noordwijk.

Rocket science, with a Pokédex

The panels are doing real work rather than decorating a merchandise hall. They cover how Europe launches missions, how the agency supports astronauts living aboard the Station, how it studies the Sun and how it explores the Solar System, with selected panels using Pokémon characters to carry the science. ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher says the collaboration unlocks new ways for people across Europe to connect with space, and Mathieu Galante, senior director of licensing at The Pokémon Company International, says it opens a new frontier for fans. Exclusive apparel, accessories and collectibles will be sold through ESA and Pokémon retail channels and partner museum shops.

There is a digital half to the campaign as well. Pokémon GO runs an ESA-themed activation from 4 October 2026 to 30 April 2027 at participating science and space museums, including One-Star Raids featuring Astronaut Pikachu, Timed Research and encounters that can carry a commemorative Location Background. Between 4 and 10 October, the week of World Space Week itself, participating museum locations get extra Field Research and boosted wild spawns, and the same gameplay runs at ESA locations across Europe.

Our opinion

Space agencies keep signing these deals because the arithmetic is unbeatable: an ESA press release reaches the people who already follow ESA, while a Pikachu in the Cupola reaches everyone else, and this is a well-worn route for the agency — it worked with Epic Games on a Lunar Horizons collaboration in 2024 for the same reason. The risk is that the mascot does the heavy lifting and the science becomes wallpaper, which is why the panel list matters more than the merchandise drop. Launches, astronaut support, solar science and Solar System exploration are the four things a visitor should be able to explain on the way out, and a plush with 1,040 orbits is only worth its shelf space if it gets them that far.