Sophie Adenot

Did You Know?

• She was inspired by watching Claudie Haigneré's 1996 launch to Mir live on television.
• She brought lobster bisque and foie gras by Michelin-starred chef Anne-Sophie Pic to the ISS.

Early life and education

Her mother served as national president of the French pharmaceutical order from 2009 to 2017. Adenot was inspired by her grandfather, a French Air Force aircraft mechanic, and astronaut Claudie Haigneré, whose 1996 launch to Mir she watched live on television. She attended a maison d'éducation de la Légion d'honneur in Saint-Denis, a school for girls whose fathers or grandfathers had received the Legion of Honour, and earned her baccalauréat there. After classes préparatoires, she studied engineering at the Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace from 2001 to 2003, specializing in flight dynamics, and earned a degree in 2004. That year she also earned a Master of Science in human factors engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she worked in the Man-Vehicle Laboratory and wrote a thesis on vestibular adaptation to artificial gravity.

Career

After graduation, Adenot worked for one year as an engineer at Airbus Helicopters in Marignane, designing helicopter cockpits for the H225 model. She joined the French Air Force in 2005, completed helicopter pilot training, and from 2008 to 2012 flew Caracal helicopters on search and rescue missions with Escadron d'Hélicoptères 1/67 Pyrénées at Cazaux Air Base. In 2008 she applied to the European Astronaut Corps but was rejected. In 2012 she transferred to the High Authority Transport Squadron at Villacoublay, transporting the head of state and other officials.

She entered test pilot school in 2017 and in 2018 became France's first female helicopter test pilot, later graduating from the Empire Test Pilots' School in the United Kingdom. From 2019 to 2022 she worked as a helicopter test pilot at Cazaux Air Base for the French Defence Procurement Agency, accumulating over 3,000 flight hours across 22 helicopter types. She was promoted to lieutenant in August 2006, captain in 2009, commandant in December 2014, lieutenant colonel in June 2020, and colonel in July 2023.

Selected for the European Astronaut Corps in the 2022 group, nicknamed "The Hoppers", she was chosen from 22,500 applicants and is the second French woman in the corps after Claudie Haigneré.

Spaceflight and spacewalks

In 2024, ESA announced Adenot would be the first member of her 2022 class to fly to the ISS, with her mission dubbed "Epsilon". She launched on SpaceX Crew-12 on 13 February 2026 to join Expedition 74. During her 8-month stay, she participated in over 200 experiments, including testing the EchoFinder device for autonomous medical ultrasounds, the PhysioTool for measuring physiological factors, and the ChlorISS experiment with French schools observing plant growth.

She also tested a prototype space suit called the "EuroSuit" and brought French dishes by chef Anne-Sophie Pic, including lobster bisque and foie gras. In August 2026, she completed her first spacewalk alongside NASA astronaut Anil Menon, removing a space-to-ground antenna on the Z1 truss segment in about six and a half hours. This made her the first French woman, the second European woman after Samantha Cristoforetti, to conduct a spacewalk, and the first to do so wearing an American EMU suit.

She performed a second spacewalk on 25 August with Menon and a third on 1 September with commander Jessica Meir. She also ran on the COLBERT treadmill wearing the "EasyMotion-2" suit for muscle stimulation research.

Awards and honours

In 2020, Adenot was recognized by the Young Leaders program of the French-American Foundation. In 2021, she received the Médaille de l'Assemblée nationale for her actions as an inspiring ambassador for gender equality in sciences. She was appointed a chevalier of the French National Order of Merit in 2022 and is a recipient of the Aeronautical Medal. On 14 July 2026, she was appointed a chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honour.

Personal life

Adenot met her husband during her engineering studies; they have one son as of 2025.