Sophie Adenot leads all-female spacewalk with Jessica Meir outside International Space Station
French astronaut Sophie Adenot exited the International Space Station alongside American Jessica Meir on Tuesday to replace navigation hardware during a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk.
Third spacewalk in two weeks
On Tuesday, 1 September 2026, French astronaut Sophie Adenot stepped outside the International Space Station shortly after 12:45 GMT (14:45 in Paris) to begin her third extravehicular activity in two weeks. Serving as mission leader, Adenot exited the airlock first, preceding her partner, American-Swedish astronaut Jessica Meir. The spacewalk was planned to last six and a half hours, with live video coverage broadcast by NASA. Designated as crew member one for the outing, the 44-year-old Adenot wore a spacesuit featuring red stripes to identify her leadership role. To prepare for the exterior work, Adenot had constructed a small handmade paper model that floated in microgravity aboard the station to help her visualize the work site, sharing the model on her Instagram account.
- Adenot and Jessica Meir launch to the ISS aboard the Crew-12 mission.
- Adenot completes her first spacewalk alongside Anil Menon.
- Adenot and Menon conduct a second spacewalk to replace a defective antenna.
- Adenot leads an all-female spacewalk with Meir to replace a retroreflector.
Maintenance tasks on station exterior
The flight plan focused on exterior maintenance and hardware preparation across the station hull. The two astronauts were assigned to remove and replace an optical retroreflector, an apparatus used to guide approaching spacecraft during rendezvous and docking operations. In addition to the navigation hardware, Adenot and Meir carried out preparatory work on an external cosmic particle detector to ready the instrument for future upgrades. The operation marked the seventh career spacewalk for Meir, who completed the first all-female extravehicular activity in 2019 alongside Christina Koch. Both Adenot and Meir had arrived at the orbital complex together on 13 February 2026 as part of the Crew-12 mission following months of intensive ground preparation.
- Jessica Meir
- 7 spacewalks
- Sophie Adenot
- 3 spacewalks
Previous outings and technical challenges
The September operation followed two earlier spacewalks conducted by Adenot alongside American astronaut Anil Menon. Her first spacewalk occurred on 18 August 2026, when Adenot became the first French female astronaut to work in the vacuum of space. She ventured outside again on 25 August 2026 with Menon to replace a defective station antenna. During an interview with France 24 and RFI on 26 August, Adenot explained that the second excursion brought noticeable pressure due to unexpected technical complications encountered while changing the antenna unit. She described leaving the airlock on the first outing as an experience filled with intense joy and apprehension, while the second demanded strict operational focus.
Psychologically, mentally, it is a great victory.
Orbital schedule and mission background
Adenot acknowledged feeling physically sore following the antenna replacement, but noted that the team had completed their objectives ahead of the next scheduled outing. The rapid sequence of three spacewalks within fourteen days placed substantial operational demands on the Crew-12 astronauts. Meir brought prior experience to the pairing, having logged multiple orbital excursions before joining Crew-12, while Koch subsequently participated in NASA's Artemis 2 mission around the Moon. With the retroreflector replacement and particle detector preparations underway, the astronauts continued their long-duration stay aboard the space station.
