Return of French astronaut Sophie Adenot from the ISS postponed due to bad weather

On board the International Space Station (ISS) for almost eight months, French astronaut Sophie Adenot saw her return to Earth postponed until Wednesday at the earliest due to unfavorable weather conditions, NASA announced on Saturday.

The American space agency initially planned to undock on Monday. But “following a review of the weather conditions and the state of the sea in the landing zone off the coast of California” it is now targeting “no earlier than 1:05 a.m. EDT (5:05 GMT), Wednesday, October 7, for the undocking of the Crew-12 mission,” she said in a press release.

Skip the ad

More than 230 days in orbit

Having left on February 13, the native of Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire (Nièvre) remained in orbit longer than expected. On September 3, she became the European astronaut - men and women combined - having carried out the longest mission in space, and reached the milestone of 230 days in orbit.

If the schedule is maintained, Sophie Adenot and her teammates, the American astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, as well as the Russian Andrey Fedyaev, could then land on Thursday around 3:25 p.m. GMT in the Pacific Ocean, before being repatriated to Houston (United States), NASA headquarters.

The Frenchwoman, who celebrated her 44th birthday on the ISS in July, should then be taken care of by the European Space Agency (ESA) in Cologne, Germany, where she will be able to reunite with her loved ones.

Relief on site since Friday

After confiding her impatience to hug them, take a real shower or even practice water sports again, Sophie Adenot will therefore have to extend her stay on the ISS somewhat.

Crew-12 crew members will officially transfer their mission responsibilities on Sunday to their new colleagues who arrived Friday to relieve them.