ISS hosts first spacewalk by a Frenchwoman

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.

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,” Adenot, 44, said after exiting the ISS, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) above the Earth.

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

For several days leading up to the operation, the French astronaut prepared by reviewing spacesuits, tools and safety procedures to follow once outside the space station.

“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 on X on Sunday.

During the spacewalk, the two astronauts will begin by dismantling the old antenna, then retrieve the replacement and install it.

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.