Sophie Adenot becomes France's first female astronaut to perform a spacewalk

Sophie Adenot has become the first female astronaut from France to perform a spacewalk. She is now the second European woman to complete a spacewalk, after Samantha Cristoforetti, from Italy, completed one in 2022.

A spacewalk is when an astronaut leaves the International Space Station to perform work in space, such as testing new tools or fixing broken equipment, with only the protection of their suit. Together with the American astronaut Anil Menon, Adenot, who is a member of the European Space Agency, completed the walk on 18 August, replacing a space-to-ground antenna. You can watch footage of the spacewalk here, although it's over nine hours long, as the work was delayed due to stuck connectors and bolts. The job wasn't actually completed until 25 August, when Adenot and Menon completed a second spacewalkto finish the repair work.

Before she became the first female French astronaut to complete a spacewalk, Adenot was also the first female helicopter test pilot in France. She hopes that the attention around her spacewalk will inspire more women to enter the industry. 'I recognise and acknowledge that a lot of women and girls are looking for inspiration,' she said in an interview with Radio France Internationale, 'and I am here for them.'

Adenot was born in Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire, a commune in the Nièvre département in central France, and attended school in Paris. She studied engineering at the Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace before going on to do a Master’s degree at MIT in the United States.

Adenot is fluent in French, English, Russian and German, and also knows a little Spanish.

It isn’t uncommon for astronauts to speak several languages, as aerospace is a very international business. Astronauts on the ISS are also required to speak both English and Russian, while members of the ESA - such as Sophie Adenot - are required to know either English or French.

The ESA's headquarters are located in Paris, while Europe's spaceport is located in French Guiana, an overseas department of France.