In an exclusive interview with FRANCE 24 and RFI from the International Space Station, French astronaut Sophie Adenot hailed a "mission accomplished" after two spacewalks to replace a faulty antenna and called the operation "a miracle", given the mechanical setbacks. She also described the "blatant" signs of climate change she has seen from orbit.
French astronaut Sophie Adenot gave an exclusive interview from 400 kilometres above the Earth the day after her second spacewalk. She spoke to Sylvain Rousseau of FRANCE 24 and Baptiste Coulon of RFI from the International Space Station (ISS).
With her American crewmate Anil Menon, Adenot installed the new Space-to-Ground Antenna (SGANT) on Tuesday, August 25, in six and a half hours. The antenna allows the ISS to communicate with mission control in Houston, Texas. "Psychologically, mentally, I feel great," she said.
A miracle in orbit
The outcome was far from certain. A week earlier, during the first spacewalk ever carried out by a French woman, stubborn bolts and connectors had prevented the pair from completing the swap.
"The airlock opened, and there it was": from that first outing, Adenot recalls "an intense joy" mixed with "apprehension" – "a leap into the unknown". Regarding the technical troubles, "we had every mechanical problem possible," she says.
Hence the second spacewalk. "We did feel some pressure," she says, adding that, "It's actually a miracle that it only took two tries and not more."
A 'transformational experience'
From orbit, Adenot has also observed the effects of climate change: a France that was "green" at lift-off in February, then, once summer came, "everything was grey and yellow, like a field of shorn wheat"; clouds of smoke from the fires being carried by the wind; lakes drying up, and the Aral Sea shrinking "very quickly"; normally submerged islands visible beneath "just a thin layer of water". "Climate change and hot, dry summers are very visible. It's blatant."
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"This is a transformational experience," says the astronaut, who is due back on Earth in about a month. "The way you see the our world completely changes."
Adenot hopes to "share this perspective" on her return, and hopes to "inspire others to do this work, too". The mission's final assessment "remains to be seen" – but nearly all the planned scientific experiments have been carried out. "We've almost ticked all the boxes."
NASA has announced a third spacewalk before September 1, this time with Adenot and her Swedish-American crewmate Jessica Meir. It will be another space adventure to follow from Earth on FRANCE 24.
