Who Is Sophie Adenot? Facts About France's First Female Helicopter Test Pilot Making Spacewalking History

Sophie Adenot just became the first Frenchwoman to do a spacewalk at the International Space Station (ISS). It's another notch on the 44-year-old astronaut's belt, as Adenot was also France's first female helicopter test pilot in 2018. She is a colonel in the French Air and Space Force.

'Our astronaut Sophie Adenot is about to step outside the ISS for the very first time,' the European Space Agency posted on Instagram, along with a photo of Adenot training for the mission. 'It's her first-ever spacewalk, officially designated U.S. EVA-97. She'll be out there with NASA astronaut (Anil Menon), and together they'll replace a Space-to-Ground antenna. That's the system that keeps high-speed data and voice links running between Mission Control in Houston and the crew on board.'

Six-Hour Mission

Adenot spacewalked with American Menon for more than six hours. It was broadcast live by NASA and the European Space Agency. Viewers could hear the two chatting and laughing.

Following the duo's return to the ISS, the space agency tweeted: 'Spacewalk complete. ✅ After 6 hours and 23 minutes outside the ISS, Sophie is safely back inside. With today's EVA (extravehicular activity), Sophie becomes the first Frenchwoman to perform a spacewalk.'

She is only the second European woman to spacewalk, following Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti's 2022 mission. Adenot is also only the second Frenchwoman to fly into space. Claudie Haigneré has the honor of being the first French and European woman to visit the ISS in 2001, as the flight engineer on Soyuz TM-33.

Adenot honored Haignere in a post on the eve of her spacewalk: 'Day 184 orbit 2863—Thirty years ago, on 17 August 1996, French astronaut Claudie Haigneré lifted off on board a Soyuz on a short-duration mission to the Mir space station. I was 14 at the time, and when I saw her heading to the pad in her spacesuit, I literally thought "If she can do it, maybe I can too!"'

In the latest EVA mission, flight engineer Jack Hathaway and station commander Jessica Meir were inside the ISS monitoring the spacewalkers while also operating a robotic arm. President Emmanuel Macron led the symphony of congratulations for Adenot.

Macron shared on social media: 'The hour of the pioneers. By becoming the first Frenchwoman to venture into space, Sophie Adenot embodies French pride as much as a horizon for little girls who dream of infinity. The face of all possibilities.'

Spacewalk Takes Hours of Preparation

Adenot has been in space since February for a long-duration mission. She was born in Burgundy, France, to a pharmacist mother and notary father. One of her inspirations was her grandfather, who was an aircraft mechanic in the French Air Force.

She earned her engineering degree at the Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace in 2004, specialising in flight dynamics of aircraft and spacecraft. She also has a Master of Science in human factors engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Days before her spacewalk mission, Adenot wrote on Instagram, which has become her online journal: 'Spacewalks don't start when the hatch opens. They begin long before that, with countless hours of preparation: readying the spacesuits, charging and replacing batteries, inspecting safety tethers, organizing the equipment we'll carry into space, servicing the SAFER jet packs, and much more.'