Sophie Adenot will become the first French astronaut to carry out a spacewalk

This is a historic first. Sophie Adenot, on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS), will become the first French astronaut to go into space on Tuesday, along with the American Anil Menon. What complex operation will the Frenchwoman carry out during this first outing? We take stock.

Antenna replacement

The outing, which will begin at 2:35 p.m. and should last six and a half hours, will replace an antenna called Space-to-Ground, or SGANT, said the American Space Agency (Nasa). This equipment “plays an essential role in high-speed communications and data transmission between the Mission Control Center in Houston and the International Space Station,” Sophie Adenot said last week on her social networks, announcing her “great news.” Aged 44, the astronaut is the second European woman to make such an outing, after the Italian Samantha Cristoforetti in 2022.

Careful preparation

For several days, the Frenchwoman has been meticulously preparing this complex operation 400 kilometers above the Earth, reviewing the spacesuits, the tools as well as the safety procedures to be applied once outside the ISS. “The success of a spacewalk is prepared well before the opening of the airlock, and that is what I have focused all my attention on in recent days: rehearsals, preparation and concentration,” she said on X.

During this outing, the two astronauts will start by dismantling the old antenna and then recovering the replacement one and installing it on the structure. Then they will use a tool specially designed for this type of microgravity operation in order to make the delicate electrical connections necessary for the operation of the equipment.

The Americans Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway will remain inside the ISS to help them “put on and take off their suits and to maneuver” the space arm to which Anil Menon will be attached in order to facilitate the replacement of the antenna, NASA detailed.

“Team work”

“Even if all eyes are on the astronauts on a spacewalk, (such an operation) is above all a team effort,” declared Sophie Adenot during a previous outing into the void of space by Jessica Meir and Anil Menon to which she had contributed from inside the ISS. An engineer by training and former test pilot, Sophie Adenot in February became the second French woman in history to fly into space, after the pioneer Claudie Haigneré in 1996 and 2001, who inspired her. Although she had been trained to carry out extravehicular outings, Claudie Haigneré had not carried out any during her space stays.