French astronaut Sophie Adenot returns to Earth after record 237 days aboard the ISS
French astronaut Sophie Adenot splashed down in the Pacific off San Diego on Thursday with three Crew-12 crewmates aboard SpaceX's Dragon capsule, ending a 237-day mission — the longest single European spaceflight on record.
The mission, called Epsilon, surpassed Luca Parmitano's 201-day mark and included three spacewalks; the crew was to be flown to NASA's Johnson Space Center before Adenot travels home to Europe.
The flight came 30 years after Claudie Haigneré became the first Frenchwoman in space — a generational bookend for French human spaceflight.
For Europe, the record is a timely reminder of its crewed-spaceflight ambitions as the ISS era winds down.
Originally reported by Le Monde. Article compiled by the Deccan Age desk.
