ESA’s Sophie Adenot is the first French woman to spacewalk

Adenot and NASA’s Anil Menon conducted the spacewalk with the goal of replacing a failed space-to-ground antenna on the International Space Station.

Sophie Adenot, a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut, has become the first French woman and second European woman – after Italy’s Samantha Cristoforetti in 2022 – to successfully complete a spacewalk, having carried out the mission on Tuesday (18 August).

Adenot, who was joined by NASA’s Anil Menon, undertook the six-hour, 23-minute spacewalk outside of the International Space Station in order to remove a failed space-to-ground antenna. The antenna was designed to track NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, however, the device has failed to do so for months. 

While the pair managed to remove the device, stuck bolts and connectors on the failed antenna delayed the work, preventing Adenot and Menon from installing the new antenna as planned. 

The plan was revised with Mission Control advising the crew to perform a ‘long-duration tie-down’ on the ISS’s truss structure, rather than transporting the failed antenna. It was decided that the installation of the spare antenna would be carried out on a future spacewalk. 

The ESA explained that this is the 282nd spacewalk to occur as a means of supporting space station assembly, maintenance and upgrades. Another spacewalk is scheduled for 25 August and will be the fifth of the Epsilon mission. 

Referencing the mission in an ESA livestream, Menon said: “We got into this with the mindset that we wanted everything to go perfectly. Things were a lot different than expected, but what I would say that I am really impressed with is that all of those contingencies were well thought out.”

Prior to her excursion, in a post on social media platform X, Adenot said: “A successful EVA [extravehicular activity] starts long before the hatch opens and that’s where my focus has been these past few days, rehearsing, preparing and focusing.”

In June, Irish Manufacturing Research announced the next ESA Phi-Lab Ireland Open Call, inviting Irish companies to better position themselves in the global space economy. Interested organisations have until 8 September 2026 to apply. 

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