French astronaut Sophie Adenot became the first French woman to perform a spacewalk on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, spending over six hours outside the International Space Station alongside American astronaut Anil Menon. While the team successfully dismantled a faulty communication antenna, time constraints prevented them from installing the replacement hardware.
Executing Spacewalk 97 High Above Earth
Operating approximately 400 kilometers above the Earth, Sophie Adenot stepped outside the International Space Station airlock at 2:35 PM on Tuesday, August 18, 2026. Designated as “Spacewalk 97,” the mission aimed to service the Space-to-Ground antenna, known as SGANT.
Adenot, a 44-year-old engineer and former test pilot, trained for over 150 hours in Cologne and Houston to prepare for the extravehicular activity. She is only the second European woman to complete a spacewalk, following Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti in 2022. Her journey to orbit began in February 2026, marking her as the second French woman in space following pioneer Claudie Haigneré, who flew in 1996 and 2001 but did not perform spacewalks during her missions.
Unforeseen Delays Halt Antenna Replacement
The six-and-a-half-hour excursion did not go entirely according to plan. NASA officials announced that while Adenot and Menon successfully removed the defective antenna, they could not install the new equipment due to time limits. According to NASA, the delays stemmed from the extensive time required to extract electrical connectors and stubborn bolts from the degraded assembly. Agency representatives noted that mission planners had anticipated such logistical hurdles.
Because of the accumulated delays, NASA must determine the schedule for completing the installation during future orbital operations. Nathalie Tinjod, an administrator at the European Space Agency headquarters in Paris, noted on BFM TV that the operation deviated from its original timeline.
Despite the incomplete hardware swap, ground control teams in Houston praised the astronauts for their performance. Following her return to the station interior at 8:52 PM, Adenot expressed her gratitude.
“Merci, quelle journée (…) je voudrais avant tout exprimer ma plus profonde reconnaissance à tous ceux qui ont rendu cela possible, aux pionniers qui nous ont précédés, mais aussi aux incroyables équipes qui travaillent aujourd’hui dans l’ombre,” Adenot stated after re-entering the ISS.
Flight controllers commended the crew for their resilience and perseverance when confronting technical hurdles in the vacuum of space. The precise timeline for the remaining antenna installation steps will be finalized by mission management in the coming days.
