ISS hosts first spacewalk by a Frenchwoman
WASHINGTON: Sophie Adenot became the first French female astronaut to venture outside the International Space Station for a spacewalk on Tuesday, accompanied by American astronaut Anil Menon.
The last French person to walk in space was Thomas Pesquet.
During the six-and-a-half-hour mission, the two astronauts were to replace an antenna that allows the ISS to communicate with mission control in Houston, according to Nasa.
“I’m out,” 44-year-old Adenot said after exiting the ISS, some 400kms above the Earth. “I feel very good now.”
Adenot became the second European woman to conduct a spacewalk after Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti’s 2022 mission.
The two space travellers could be heard chatting and laughing in Nasa footage of their adventure.
President Emmanuel Macron hailed Adenot’s spacewalk as a cause for “French pride”, leading a chorus of praise from leaders in her home country.
Flight engineer Jack Hathaway and station commander Jessica Meir remained inside the ISS during the spacewalk. After helping their colleagues don space suits, they were to monitor them and operate a robotic arm to assist with the antenna repair.
“A successful (spacewalk) starts long before the hatch opens, and that’s where my focus has been these past few days: rehearsing, preparing and focusing,” Adenot wrote on X.
Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2026
