ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot returns to Earth after long spaceflight

European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot returned to Earth on 8 October 2026 after a nearly eight-month crewed mission to the International Space Station. ESA News and ABC7 San Francisco reported that Adenot splashed down off the coast of California at 15:34 GMT alongside three other crew members. Her long-duration stay on the orbiting laboratory was designated as the epsilon mission. [1][2][3]

The return flight took 27 hours and 29 minutes following undocking from the station on 7 October at 12:05 GMT, according to ESA News. Adenot traveled inside a SpaceX Crew-12 capsule alongside NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrei Fedyaev. ABC7 San Francisco noted that Fedyaev is also spelled Andrey. [1][3]

Adenot is a colonel in the French Air and Space Force who became the first female helicopter test pilot in France in 2018. She joined the European Astronaut Corps in 2022 before launching on her first spaceflight in February 2026. During her mission as part of Expedition 74 and 75, she became the first French woman to perform a spacewalk. [4]

Adenot was born on 5 July 1982 in Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire, France. The technique of ocean splashdowns began in 1961 with Alan Shepard aboard Freedom 7 during the Mercury program and returned for crewed spaceflights in 2020. [6][7]