ESA x Pokémon: exhibition, sleeves and playmats

The Pokémon Company and the European Space Agency ESA have announced a Europe wide partnership. It covers a touring exhibition, exclusive merchandise including TCG accessories, and a Pokémon GO event. For German collectors the accessory part is the most relevant.

ESA x Pokémon merchandise with Astronaut Pikachu, sleeves and playmats
The merchandise covers binders, playmats, sleeves, plush and patches

Accessories for the trading card game

The collection brings card sleeves and playmats in ESA designs, plus clothing, accessories and collectibles. The artwork shows Astronaut Pikachu together with space themed Pokémon such as Lunatone, Minior and Cosmog. Distribution runs through ESA channels, Pokémon distribution and museum shops, with some items exclusive to the Pokémon Center online store.

Officially licensed accessories with a clear end date are typically the ones that become hard to buy later. With collaboration playmats that has been the case repeatedly.

The exhibition and the German dates

ESA x Pokémon exhibition with Astronaut Pikachu
The exhibition combines real spaceflight content with Pokémon

The exhibition "Space and Pokémon" combines scientific content on European spaceflight, astronaut missions and solar research with Pokémon artwork. It opens across the ESA Open Days 2026:

  • Paris, France: 19 and 20 September
  • Rome, Italy: 25 September
  • Noordwijk, Netherlands: 26 and 27 September
  • Darmstadt, Germany: 2 October
  • Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain: 3 October
  • Harwell, United Kingdom: 10 October

After that the exhibition tours from October 2026 to April 2027, including Toulouse, Valencia, Libin, Lucca, London, Noordwijk and the Deutsches Museum in Nuremberg.

A Pikachu really was in space

The hook of the campaign is real: an Astronaut Pikachu plush spent 67 days on the International Space Station, from 11 April to 17 June 2026, during the mission of ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot. That works out to roughly 1,040 orbits.

The Pokémon GO event

From 4 October 2026 to 30 April 2027 a Pokémon GO event runs alongside. At participating science and space museums there are one star raids with Astronaut Pikachu, limited time research tasks, special encounters and location specific backgrounds for museum visitors. From 4 to 10 October there are expanded activities at ESA sites.

Source: pokezentrum.de, 21 September 2026.

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