“Houston, we have a functional communication link again.” Thanks to the efforts of two astronauts, such a call is possible again using one of the two space-to-ground antennas outside the International Space Station (ISS). The pair completed the replacement of a faulty dish assembly during a spacewalk on Tuesday (August 25). NASA’s Anil Menon and Sophie Adenot of the European Space Agency (ESA), who previously removed a faulty dish during a spacewalk on August 18, installed a replacement in its place and moved the broken assembly from a temporary storage location to a more permanent one along the station’s main structure. As seen from a camera mounted on ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot’s helmet, NASA Expedition 75 crew member Anil Menon works to assemble a replacement space-to-ground antenna during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Tuesday, August 25, 2026. (Image credit: NASA) With Menon positioned at the end of the Canadarm2 robotic arm and Adenot reaching across the handrails to join He, the two Expedition 75 companions first recovered a spare space-to-ground antenna (SGANT) from an external storage position. Menon and the spare dish were then maneuvered to the Z-1 frame, where it was mounted and connected to the station’s data and power systems. Menon and Adenot then recovered the faulty antenna, which they had stored in the Z-1 cage during the previous spacewalk. Menon (on the arm) moved it to External Storage Platform 3 (ESP-3) on the starboard side of the armor. You may like The replacement work became necessary after SGANT stopped being able to track NASA data and relay satellites, rendering it unusable, starting last November. A second antenna has been in use since then, continuing critical voice and data transmission, but this repair restored system redundancy. “On behalf of CAPCOM and I, let’s count like a lightning bolt: ‘3, 2, 1… You just saved the satellite dish, you just saved the satellite dish,'” sang astronaut Anne McClain of Mission Control at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, parodying The Buggles’ 1979 hit “Video Killed the Radio.” Star.” “My goodness, it’s hard to top that,” responded Menon, who could be heard laughing along with Adenot. “I want to thank the entire team for successfully executing this complex and time-critical operation.” Tuesday’s spacewalk began at 8:27 a.m. EDT (1227 GMT) and was completed exactly 6.5 hours later, at 2:57 p.m. EDT (1857 GMT). The extravehicular activity (EVA) was the 283rd in support to ISS assembly, maintenance and upgrades. It was Menon’s third EVA, increasing her total spacewalk time to 19 hours and 20 minutes. It was Adenot’s second time working in the vacuum of space, raising her EVA time to 12 hours and 53 minutes after becoming the first woman and fifth citizen of France to perform a spacewalk. 98th spacewalk using American extravehicular mobility unit (EMU) spacesuits on station.
