After eight months in space, return to Earth imminent for Sophie Adenot

It has not made landfall since February 13. Sophie Adenot began her return journey this Wednesday, October 7, after eight months aboard the International Space Station. The French astronaut spent 235 days 400 kilometers above the Earth, breaking the record for the longest continuous orbital stay for a European astronaut, male or female. She also became the second French woman in history to reach space.

In a video posted on her Instagram account, Sophie Adenot confides that she is looking forward to meeting her loved ones and tasting a good Breton pancake, but also feeling a “touch of nostalgia” at the idea of ​​leaving the orbital laboratory.

“As the end of a mission approaches, we start thinking about, almost feeling, familiar smells, tastes and sensations. And at the same time, I look around me and realize how much I will miss microgravity... just like this incredible view of our beautiful blue planet,” she writes.

But before leaving the ISS, the Frenchwoman and her three teammates – the Americans Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway and the Russian Andreï Fediaïev – welcomed the four astronauts from the Crew-13 crew on Friday, who had come to take over.

A long journey before recovery

Once the shift was assured, Sophie Adenot and her comrades took their places in their capsule, which had remained docked at the station since their arrival on February 14, heading to Earth. Their return trip began at 2:05 p.m. Paris time, with an arrival scheduled for 5:34 p.m. Thursday, according to NASA.

After more than a day of travel, the astronauts will cross the atmosphere at very high speed. In the final minutes, their capsule will be slowed down by powerful parachutes before landing in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California. A specialized ship will then come and collect the device.

They will then reach dry land by helicopter, before taking a plane to Houston, Texas, where the NASA center responsible for monitoring them is located.

For Sophie Adenot, however, returning to Earth will not yet mean the end of the adventure. From Houston, she will fly to Cologne, Germany, where a recovery program of approximately three weeks awaits her at the European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut training center.