Two astronauts, including the first French woman in history to perform a spacewalk, worked outside the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday (August 18), becoming temporary television repairmen. As often happens on Earth, the work required more time than the “appointment” allowed and a second visit had to be scheduled. NASA astronaut Anil Menon and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot were in charge of removing and replacing a space-to-ground antenna that had stopped being able to track NASA’s data relay satellites since November, leaving it unusable. A second antenna has since been used, continuing the transmission of critical data and enabling high-speed communications with Mission Control in Houston. Spacewalk planners had allotted about six and a half hours to complete the job. The two Expedition 75 crewmates managed to remove the failed space-to-ground antenna from its mount on the station structure, but suffered delays in disconnecting its electrical connections and locking gimbal bolts or pins to secure the large antenna assembly during transport to its temporary storage location. “We went into this with the mindset that we wanted everything to go perfectly,” Menon said as the spacewalk came to an end. “Things were very different than expected, but what I would say I’m really impressed with is that all of those contingencies were well thought out.” As such, flight controllers had the astronauts strap the faulty antenna to the truss and waived them from installing the replacement antenna, leaving it for a yet-to-be-scheduled future extravehicular activity (EVA). Those responsible for the mission will decide whether to add this task to a spacewalk already scheduled for next Tuesday (August 25) or leave it for a later departure. You May Like “We’re Watching the Times,” Mission Control radioed to the spacewalkers. “We are going to move directly to the long duration mooring of this SGANT on the Z-1 truss.” NASA astronaut Anil Menon is maneuvered out of the International Space Station by the Candarm 2 robotic arm, Tuesday, August 18, 2026. (Image credit: NASA) Menon and Adenot began the spacewalk at 8:29 a.m. EDT (1229 GMT) when they changed into their battery-powered spacesuits. Their EVA ended once they were back inside the US Quest’s airlock and repressurization began at 2:52 pm EDT (1852 GMT). The total time recorded on this spacewalk was 6 hours and 23 minutes. Tuesday’s spacewalk was the 282nd in support of ISS assembly, maintenance and upgrades. It was Menon’s second EVA since she made her first sortie with fellow NASA astronaut Jessica Meir on August 6, increasing her total spacewalk time to 12 hours and 50 minutes. It was Sophie Adenot’s first time venturing into the vacuum of space, making her the first woman and the fifth French citizen to undertake a spacewalk after Jean-Loup Chrétien, Jean-Pierre Haigneré, Philippe Perrin and Thomas Pesquet. “What a day!” Adenot said. “My deepest thanks to everyone who made this possible: the pioneers who came before us, but also the incredible teams working behind the scenes today.” This was the fifth spacewalk conducted from the International Space Station this year, the second for Expedition 75 and the 97th to use US Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuits on the space station.
