Pokémon Go gives Pikachu an astronaut suit for World Space Week
Pikachu is going to space
- Catch Astronaut Pikachu in one-star raids
- Visit European museums for location backgrounds
- Space-themed gameplay runs through April 2027
Between the party hats and the small army of Ash’s caps, I’m certain that Pikachu owns more outfits than I do. As of World Space Week in Pokémon Go, one of them is a spacesuit.
Astronaut Pikachu is the new costumed Pokémon for the event, turning up in one-star raids, so you won't need to round up a group for this one. Free Timed Research runs alongside it with an encounter among the rewards. You’ll need to claim and finish these tasks by midnight on October 12th, which is a couple of days after the event wraps up.
The space theme carries on well past the week. Pokémon Go has teamed up with the European Space Agency, and from October 4th right through to April 30th, 2027, six science and space museums across Europe get their own gameplay.
The Science Museum in London is one of them, along with Cité de l'espace in Toulouse, the Deutsches Museum in Nuremberg, Museu de les Ciències in València, Space Expo in Noordwijk and the Euro Space Center in Transinne.
Visit any of those and Astronaut Pikachu turns up in one-star raids with a Location Background marking where you caught it. Timed Research unlocks at the museums for the whole partnership, and some of its encounters carry a background too. From October 4th to 10th, spinning PokéStops there also hands out themed Field Research.
Wild spawns near the museums get the space treatment that week as well. Clefairy, Lunatone, Solrock, Elgyem and Starmie are all on the boosted list, as is, which has always looked like it wandered out of a UFO documentary.
If the museums are out of reach, seven ESA sites get the same Pokémon Go gameplay from October 4th to 10th, minus the Location Backgrounds. The list includes ESA HQ in Paris and ECSAT at Harwell here in the UK, among others.
Before you head out to find yet another costumed Pikachu, be sure to redeem the latest Pokémon Go codes.
