ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot returns after 237‑day ISS mission

ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot returned to Earth after a 237‑day mission aboard the International Space Station and landed in Cologne, Germany on 10 October 2026.

Sophie Adenot is the second European woman to conduct a spacewalk, coming after Samantha Cristoforetti, and the first French woman to achieve this. During her epsilon mission (the name of her flight) she completed three spacewalks, accumulating 19 hours and 42 minutes of extravehicular activity.

Sources disagree on the exact mission length, with ESA and NASA reporting 237 days (five hours and 18 minutes) while France 24 states 235 days. After splashdown on 8 October 2026 at 15:34 GMT, recovery teams recovered the crew, flew them to Ellington Field in Houston, then transported them to Cologne aboard a French Air and Space Force Airbus A330 MRTT Phénix, landing at 04:21 GMT on 10 October 2026.

Adenot will dedicate two to three weeks to readjusting to Earth’s gravity while undergoing tests at the DLR :envihab facility beside the European Astronaut Centre. This will be followed by further rehabilitation with the EAC training team.

During her time on the station, Adenot performed a wide range of European experiments in areas such as health, materials, biology, fluid dynamics, radiation and basic science. She helped assess upcoming exploration tools like the European E4D exercise device and in‑orbit metal 3D printing, and lent support to commercial research payloads. Over Expeditions 74 and 75 she worked on experiments for International Space Station partners, contributing to the joint research program. She logged approximately 218 hours on 35 European payloads and about 25 hours on ESA system maintenance in the Columbus module, and completed all epsilon‑specific experiments assigned by CNES and all ESA experiments allocated to her.

Her social‑media activity during epsilon reached more than 1.1 million followers and generated over 403 million views. She engaged more than 290000 students through several educational programs. Adenot participated in over 40 live events involving schools, museums and media outlets across the globe.

Josef Aschbacher, ESA’s Director General, said her return provides inspiration as Europe prepares for the Intermediate Ministerial Council Meeting in Rome. He stressed that Europe should secure an exploration role proportionate to its size. Daniel Neuenschwander, ESA Director of Human and Robotic Exploration, noted that her mission contributed to an ambitious science, technology and exploration program and helped build the knowledge needed for Europe’s exploration ambitions.

She launched on 13 February 2026 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, USA. Her time in orbit amounted to 237 days, five hours and 18 minutes. Adenot’s epsilon mission established a new European record for the longest single spaceflight, surpassing Luca Parmitano’s earlier mark by over 35 days. Crew‑12 became the longest SpaceX Dragon flight to date, beating the previous Crew‑8 record of 235 days.