French astronaut Sophie Adenot carried out her second spacewalk on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, according to France 24. The outing was part of a joint effort with NASA and ESA astronauts to install new equipment on the International Space Station.
France 24 reports that the spacewalk focused on repairing a failed S-Band antenna, a critical component for communication. NASA confirmed that astronauts from both agencies began the spacewalk to install the antenna, with the operation marking a significant maintenance milestone for the orbiting laboratory.
The repair work was notable for its complexity, as the astronauts had to address hardware that had stopped functioning properly. Space.com described the mission as making history for the ISS, though specific details of what made it unprecedented were not provided in the initial reports. KeepTrack, a tracking service, also documented the spacewalk as a repair of the failed S-Band antenna.
Adenot's second spacewalk follows her first outing, and she was not the only astronaut active outside the station. USA Today noted that NASA astronaut Anil Menon was preparing for his third consecutive spacewalk, indicating a busy period of external maintenance work on the ISS.
The successful repair of the antenna is expected to restore full communication capabilities for the station. The joint NASA-ESA operation underscores the ongoing collaboration between international space agencies in maintaining the ISS.
What to watch next: Whether Adenot will participate in additional spacewalks during her current mission, and how the repaired antenna performs in the coming weeks.
