Watch Sophie Adenot’s spacewalk live

ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot is set to perform her first spacewalk on Tuesday, 18 August 2026. Together with NASA astronaut Anil Menon, she will exit the International Space Station from the Quest airlock at approximately 13:35 BST/14:35 CEST to repair a crucial piece of equipment. The 97th US spacewalk is expected to last about six and a half hours, during which the pair will replace a Space-to-Ground Antenna (SGANT), a critical communication system used by NASA for high-speed data transmission between mission control in Houston and the Station.

Sophie has trained extensively for this mission, spending more than 150 hours underwater at ESA's European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, and NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, qualifying for extravehicular activities. In the weeks leading up to the spacewalk, she worked on preparing spacesuits and tools and revising procedures. On the day, NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway will help them into their suits; Meir will also operate the Canadarm2 robotic arm from inside the Station to assist the spacewalkers. Anil (EV1) will wear red stripes on his suit, while Sophie (EV2) will have no stripes.

This spacewalk marks a historic milestone for European spaceflight: Sophie is the 5th French astronaut to perform a spacewalk, the 12th spacewalk by a French astronaut, the 31st by a European astronaut, and the 5th during the εpsilon mission. Viewers can join the livestream coverage on ESA WebTV and ESA's YouTube channel starting at 12:00 BST/13:00 CEST.