Sophie Adenot becomes first French woman to walk in space

Key facts

• Sophie Adenot became the first French woman to walk in space during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS).
• The spacewalk was performed with American astronaut Anil Menon and lasted nearly six and a half hours.
• The spacewalk was carried out about 400 kilometres above the Earth.
• Adenot and Menon attempted to replace an antenna that allows the ISS to communicate with mission control in Houston.
• The two astronauts successfully removed the faulty antenna but could not replace it with new equipment due to time constraints.
• Adenot was the second European woman to conduct a spacewalk, after Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti in 2022.
• She became in February the second Frenchwoman in history to fly into space, after Claudie Haigneré.
• Adenot is an engineer by training and a former test pilot.
• The last French person to walk in space before her was Thomas Pesquet, who did so six times over two stays aboard the ISS.
• Flight engineer Jack Hathaway and station commander Jessica Meir remained inside the ISS and operated a robotic arm during the spacewalk.