French ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot returned to Europe on 10 October after her first mission to the International Space Station. She landed in Cologne, Germany, home of the European Astronaut Centre, after splashing down on 8 October.
The εpsilon mission lasted 237 days, 5 hours and 18 minutes, a new European record for the longest single spaceflight. Adenot launched on 13 February 2026 aboard a SpaceX Dragon as part of Crew-12.
Over about 218 hours she worked on 35 European experiments in health, materials science, biology and physics, and tested technologies for future exploration such as in-orbit metal 3D printing. She also made three spacewalks totalling 19 hours and 42 minutes, the first French woman to do so.
In the coming weeks she will readjust to Earth’s gravity at DLR’s :envihab facility and continue rehabilitation with ESA’s training team.
