NASA astronaut Anil Menon and ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot completed a six-hour and 23-minute spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Tuesday. The primary goal of the mission was to remove and replace a failed Space-to-Ground antenna that lost its ability to track data relay satellites back in November.
The two crew members successfully removed the faulty antenna from the Z-1 truss. However, the task proved more time-consuming than anticipated due to difficulties with electrical connections and the locking pins required to secure the assembly for transport. While they reached their time limit, the crew safely stowed the old hardware before returning to the station.
This mission marked a significant milestone for European space exploration as Sophie Adenot became the first French woman to perform a spacewalk. She is now the fifth French citizen to venture into the vacuum of space during the station's assembly and maintenance history.
Mission control teams are currently evaluating whether to include the installation of the replacement antenna in a previously scheduled spacewalk set for next Tuesday. The station remains fully operational with a secondary antenna handling communication duties in the meantime.