Sophie Adenot to become first French woman to conduct spacewalk at ISS

Sophie Adenot is set to become the first French female astronaut to venture outside the International Space Station (ISS) for a spacewalk on Tuesday, accompanied by American astronaut Anil Menon.

The spacewalk is scheduled to start at around 1435 CET and last six and a half hours, with the goal of replacing a space-to-ground antenna on the orbital complex, according to NASA.

Adenot, 44, will be the second European woman to conduct a spacewalk, after Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti’s mission in 2022.

The French astronaut has been preparing for the operation for several days aboard the ISS, in orbit 400 kilometres above the Earth.

“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 said in a post on X on Sunday.

The antenna being replaced is key to high-speed communications and data transmission between the ISS and mission control in Houston, she added.

Flight engineer Jack Hathaway and station commander Jessica Meir will monitor the spacewalkers and operate a robotic arm from inside the ISS, NASA said.

“While the spacewalkers are the ones out in the spotlight, (extravehicular activities) are very much a team effort and it’s always a privilege to support the crew from within,” Adenot wrote after the previous spacewalk, when she supported Meir and Menon.

An engineer by training and a former test pilot, Adenot became in February the second Frenchwoman in history to fly into space, after pioneer Claudie Haignere.

The last French person to walk in space was Thomas Pesquet, who did so six times over two stays aboard the ISS.

Additional sources • AFP