Sophie Adenot becomes first Frenchwoman on ISS spacewalk

French astronaut Sophie Adenot became the first French woman to carry out a spacewalk outside the International Space Station on August 18, during a nearly six-and-a-half-hour mission with American astronaut Anil Menon that removed but did not replace a faulty antenna, NASA said.

The antenna allows the ISS to communicate with mission control in Houston. NASA said Adenot and Menon successfully removed the faulty antenna but could not install new equipment because of time limits.

Adenot, 44, said “I'm out” after exiting the ISS about 400 kilometres above Earth. “I feel very good now,” she said.

Adenot became the second European woman to conduct a spacewalk, after Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti in 2022. French President Emmanuel Macron hailed Adenot's spacewalk as a cause for “French pride”.

NASA said flight engineer Jack Hathaway and station commander Jessica Meir remained inside the ISS to monitor the spacewalkers and operate a robotic arm to help with the antenna repair.

Adenot, an engineer and former test pilot, became in February the second Frenchwoman to fly into space, after Claudie Haignere. The last French person to walk in space was Thomas Pesquet, who did so six times over two stays aboard the ISS.