Sophie Adenot describes return after record European spaceflight

French astronaut Sophie Adenot spoke in Cologne on October 10 about the emotional and physical challenges of returning from space. The European Space Agency (ESA) says her 237-day flight set a European record for a single mission.

She returned to Earth on October 8 with Crew-12 aboard a Dragon capsule that splashed down in the Pacific off California. ESA gives her flight’s precise duration as 237 days, five hours and 18 minutes.

Speaking to reporters, the 44-year-old said viewing Earth from around 400 kilometres above it helped her see the planet as a shared place without visible divisions or borders. She described experiencing the full range of human emotions during nearly eight months away.

Adenot appeared weakened at the event and received assistance from two ESA doctors. Adaptation to weightlessness is associated with bone loss, muscle weakening, cardiovascular changes and possible vision problems.

She faces an intensive recovery programme of about three weeks. Adenot described returning as joyful while also bringing significant physiological challenges.

She separately recalled a difficult splashdown, with the capsule carrying four crewmates spending about 25 minutes amid waves. When rescuers helped her out, she jokingly asked to be sent back to space, where she found things easier.

During the mission Adenot became the first French woman to perform a spacewalk. She completed three, on August 18 and 25 and September 1.