French astronaut Sophie Adenot returns to Earth after record 235 days in orbit
Two days after splashing down off California, French astronaut Sophie Adenot made her first public appearance in Cologne, where she described her return as a mix of emotions and physical challenges.
Return to solid ground
French astronaut Sophie Adenot made her first public appearance on Earth on Saturday 10 October at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, two days after her return. Visibly weakened, she was supported by two ESA surgeons on the tarmac and then walked to the lectern, declining a wheelchair that had been brought in case she needed it. Dozens of people, including ESA colleagues, came with French flags to cheer her arrival. Adenot cried several times during the press conference, but she spoke about the experience in measured terms.
Describing how she felt after the mission, she said:
Emotionally super happy, the feeling of mission accomplished.
She also described the view from orbit, saying the planet she had seen from above with her crewmates is "everyone's planet". In her words, there are "no divisions, no borders" when seen from 400 km above Earth.
Splashdown and the final minutes
Adenot and three crewmates of the Crew-12 mission splashed down on Thursday late in the afternoon in the Pacific Ocean off California, ending a mission of almost eight months aboard the International Space Station. The return flight lasted about 27 hours aboard the Dragon capsule, which also carried American astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway and Russian Andrei Fediaev. The final minutes included a very fast crossing of the atmosphere, slowed by large parachutes, during which communications were cut. Adenot called the landing the most difficult moment, saying the capsule endured "a lot of waves for 25 minutes".
- First spacewalk (extravehicular activity)
- Second spacewalk
- Third spacewalk
- Splashdown off California after about 27 hours of flight
- First public appearance at ESA centre in Cologne
Recounting the moment the recovery teams reached her, she said with a smile:
The first thing I said to them was, 'send me back into space, please!' It was much easier up there.
Recovery ahead
Adenot now begins a recovery programme of about three weeks at the ESA training centre. The articles explain that the body adapts to weightlessness through bone loss, muscle wasting, cardiovascular deconditioning and visual disturbances. Regaining her pre-flight condition will take many months of targeted physical exercise. At the press conference she said the return brought both emotional and physiological challenges.
A cocktail of amazing emotions, it's incredible, it's great to be back on Earth, but it also comes with its share of challenges, mainly physiological.
A record and three spacewalks
Adenot, 44, is a colonel in the French Air Force and a helicopter pilot. Her 235 days aboard the station set a record for the longest continuous orbital stay by a European astronaut, man or woman. She is the second French astronaut to reach space. Her three extravehicular activities on 18 and 25 August and 1 September made her the first French woman to venture into open space, and she describes them as the high point of her stay. Joking about her tears during the press conference, she said:
Tears follow weightlessness now, I'm no longer used to it.
