🔴Live: Sophie Adenot becomes first French female astronaut to venture outside ISS

Cover image: This August 18, 2026, frame grab from a NASA live videostream shows ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot working during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS). © Handout via AFP

The first spacewalk by a French woman was successfully completed after nearly six and a half hours outside the International Space Station on Tuesday. French President Emmanuel Macron called astronaut Sophie Adenot, 44, "the embodiment of French pride". Adenot and her American colleague Anil Menon worked outside the ISS to remove a faulty antenna.

Sophie Adenot became the first French female astronaut to venture outside the International Space Station for a spacewalk on Tuesday, accompanied by American astronaut Anil Menon.