Sophie Adenot becomes the first French woman to walk in space after exiting the International Space Station (ISS) for a spacewalk on August 18, accompanied by American astronaut Anil Menon. The pair work on repairs intended to restore or improve ISS communications with mission control in Houston, with the first excursion lasting nearly six and a half hours.
A week later, Adenot begins a second spacewalk outside the ISS, again in Menon’s company, as part of continued maintenance on the station’s external systems. Multiple reports say the planned work focuses on a space-to-ground communications antenna on the ISS, including retrieving and installing a spare antenna and making electrical and data connections. France 24 also frames the broader context as a rare run of consecutive extravehicular activities, with additional reporting later describing further spacewalks by Adenot and an all-female excursion format in subsequent missions.
