For a six and a half hour mission, S. Adenot and accompanying American astronaut Anil Menon have to replace the antenna that allows the ISS to maintain communication with the mission control center in Houston, NASA reported.
“I am in space,” said 44-year-old S. Adenot, having exited the ISS, located about 400 kilometers above the Earth.
S. Adenot became the second European woman to perform a spacewalk after Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti’s mission in 2022.
The French astronaut spent several days preparing for this operation, checking space suits, tools, and safety procedures required when going outside the space station.
“A successful (spacewalk) begins long before the hatch opens, and that is exactly what I have focused on the past few days: rehearsing, preparing, and concentrating,” S. Adenot wrote on the social network X on Sunday.
Once outside in space, the two astronauts will first dismantle the old antenna, then take the new one and install it.
Flight engineer Jack Hathaway and station commander Jessica Meir will monitor them and control the robotic arm from inside the ISS, NASA reported.
“Although the focus is on the astronauts going out into open space, (activity outside the station) is primarily a team effort, and it is always a privilege to support the crew from inside,” S. Adenot wrote after a previous spacewalk when she assisted J. Meir and A. Menon.
S. Adenot, who has an engineering education and was a test pilot, became the second Frenchwoman in history to fly into space in February. The first was Claudie Haignere.
The last Frenchman to perform a spacewalk was Thomas Pesquet, who did it six times over two ISS missions.
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