Washington: Astronauts Anil Menon and Sophie Adenot ventured outside the International Space Station on Tuesday to swap out a crucial space-to-ground communication antenna on the orbiting laboratory.

This marks the second extravehicular activity for Menon, who traces his roots to Kerala in India, and the inaugural spacewalk for Adenot. Representing the European Space Agency (ESA), Adenot has scripted history as the first French woman to carry out a spacewalk.
 

“Welcome to space,” greeted the Mission Control Centre in Houston as Adenot and Menon finalised their mutual safety checks. They then navigated toward the Z1 truss, situated along the central spine of the space station, which orbits Earth at an altitude of approximately 260 miles.

Commenced at 8.37 am EDT, the spacewalk was scheduled to run for roughly six hours and 30 minutes.
 

The antenna serves as a vital communications link for NASA, facilitating high-speed data transmission between the space station and flight controllers in Houston. This operation represents the 282nd spacewalk dedicated to assembling, maintaining and upgrading the orbital outpost.

Earlier this month, Menon completed a six-hour, 27-minute spacewalk alongside NASA astronaut Jessica Meir to prepare the station's power infrastructure for a upcoming roll-out solar array installation. These missions form part of ongoing maintenance efforts to ensure the laboratory remains fully functional as it nears three decades of continuous human presence.

PTI