Sophie Adenot returns to Earth with European spaceflight record
The French astronaut completed 237 days in space and will undergo several weeks of recovery in Cologne, Germany.
French astronaut Sophie Adenot landed in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego, California, on 8 October 2026 after completing the longest European spaceflight. Her mission lasted 237 days, surpassing the 201 days that Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano spent in orbit in 2019–2020.
Adenot spent 235 days aboard the International Space Station, 400 kilometres above Earth. The return journey took about a day, ending at 5:35 pm French time. Russian cosmonaut Andrei Fediaiev and American astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway returned alongside her.
Following initial medical checks, the crew will travel to Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego and then NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. A European Space Agency medical team will accompany Adenot on her flight to Cologne, where she will see her loved ones and start a recovery programme lasting several weeks.
In February, Adenot became the second Frenchwoman to reach space, 30 years after Claudie Haigneré. She also became the first French woman to perform a spacewalk, making three excursions on 18 August, 25 August and 1 September.
