Astronaut Sophie Adenot is poised to make history on August 18 by becoming the first French woman to perform a spacewalk. This significant milestone follows her previous achievement in February when she became the second French woman to travel to space.
Adenot announced the upcoming spacewalk on her social media channels, X and Instagram. The mission will involve repairing the International Space Station's (ISS) transmission system. She will be accompanied by American astronaut Anil Menon, who has prior experience with spacewalks, having worked on a high-bandwidth antenna crucial for Earth communications.
According to NASA, the spacewalk, conducted by two astronauts from Expedition 75, is essential for replacing an antenna vital for high-bandwidth data transmission and communication between the ISS and ground control centers. Preparations for this critical operation are already underway, with Adenot and Menon recently working together in the Quest airlock to ready the tools required for the mission.
Following this spacewalk, Sophie Adenot will also be recognized as only the second European woman to have conducted such a mission, after Italy's Samantha Cristoforetti in 2022. There is a possibility that Adenot could undertake another spacewalk on August 25.
Last February, Sophie Adenot made history by becoming the second French woman to travel into space, after Claudie Haigneré. Six months on, she is about to take another leap forward as she becomes the first French woman to carry out a spacewalk.
