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NASA astronaut and 1st female French spacewalker remove failed antenna, but run out of time for replacement
NASA astronaut Anil Menon and ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot completed a second spacewalk to replace a faulty Space-to-Ground Antenna on the International Space Station, restoring a critical communications link. The 6.5-hour EVA also saw the failed antenna moved to permanent storage.
NASA astronaut Anil Menon and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot completed a spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday, Aug. 25, successfully installing and connecting a spare Space-to-Ground antenna. The 6.5-hour excursion marked the second EVA for the pair, who had removed the faulty antenna during a previous spacewalk on Aug. 18.
According to NASA, the newly installed antenna is a critical link that enables high-speed data transmission between the ISS and Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas. Initial checkouts showed good power and data transmission, with flight controllers continuing overnight testing to ensure full functionality.
The spacewalk began at 12:27 GMT (8:27 a.m. EDT) and ended at 2:57 p.m. EDT (18:57 GMT). Menon, positioned at the end of the Canadarm2 robotic arm, and Adenot, who traversed by handrails, retrieved a spare antenna from an external stowage position and mounted it on the station's Z-1 truss. They then moved the failed antenna, which had been temporarily stowed on the Z-1 during the earlier spacewalk, to External Stowage Platform-3 (ESP-3) on the starboard side of the truss.
The faulty antenna, known as SGANT (Space-to-Ground Antenna), had ceased being able to track NASA's data relay satellites since November, rendering it unusable. A second antenna had been in use since then, maintaining voice and critical data transmissions, but the repair restored redundancy to the system.
"Houston, we have a working comm link again," was the message made possible after the replacement, and Mission Control celebrated with a song parody. Astronaut Anne McClain, serving as spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM), sang a rendition of The Buggles' 1979 hit "Video Killed the Radio Star," with the lyric "You just saved the video dish." Menon, laughing, replied, "Oh my god, it is hard to top that. I want to thank the entire team on executing this complex, time-critical operation successfully."
Previous Spacewalk Cleared the Way
During the Aug. 18 spacewalk, Menon and Adenot successfully removed the faulty antenna but ran into delays disconnecting electrical connections and locking down gimbal bolts, or pins, to secure the large dish for transport. The work overran the planned timeline, and flight controllers had the astronauts tether the failed antenna to the truss and waived off installing the replacement, leaving it for a future EVA.
"We got into this with the mindset that we wanted everything to go perfectly," Menon said as that spacewalk came to an end. "Things were a lot different than expected, but what I would say that I am really impressed with is that all of those contingencies were well thought out."
The Aug. 18 spacewalk lasted 6 hours and 23 minutes, and it was the first for Adenot, making her the first French woman to perform a spacewalk. The 44-year-old ESA astronaut said she "loved working in the vacuum of space." She is the fifth French citizen to walk in space, after Jean-Loup Chrétien, Jean-Pierre Haigneré, Philippe Perrin, and Thomas Pesquet. In February, she became the second French woman to fly into space, following Claudie Haigneré.
Milestones and Statistics
The Aug. 25 spacewalk was the 283rd in support of ISS assembly, maintenance, and upgrades, and the 98th using U.S. extravehicular mobility unit (EMU) spacesuits. It was the second EVA for Expedition 75 and the sixth ISS spacewalk of the year.
For Menon, this EVA was his third, bringing his total spacewalking time to 19 hours and 20 minutes. His first spacewalk was with NASA astronaut Jessica Meir on Aug. 6, 2026. Adenot's second spacewalk brought her total EVA time to 12 hours and 53 minutes.
The plan for the second spacewalk also included possibly reinstalling a retroreflector on the exterior of the station, if no bolts or other unforeseen problems slowed the astronauts down.
How each outlet told it
news.cgtn.com
Framing: States the completion of the spacewalk and installation objectively. — neutral and factual.
Facts Included:
NASA astronaut Anil Menon and ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot concluded a spacewalk on Tuesday.
They successfully installed and connected a spare space-to-ground antenna.
The spacewalk lasted 6.5 hours.
The antenna enables high-speed data transmission between NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston and the orbital complex.
They secured the failed antenna to a spare-parts platform on the truss.
The failed antenna had been removed and temporarily stowed during their August 18 spacewalk.
Initial checkouts showed good power and data transmission.
Flight controllers will continue testing overnight.
This was Menon's third and Adenot's second spacewalk.
It was the 283rd spacewalk in support of ISS assembly, maintenance and upgrades.
Framing: Focuses on Sophie Adenot's second spacewalk, highlighting her personal milestone. — celebratory and personal, with quotes about transformation and inspiration.
Facts Included:
The mission began at 12:27 GMT.
Sophie Adenot and Anil Menon spent more than six hours outside the ISS.
They dismantled the faulty Space-to-Ground antenna (SGANT).
They did not have time to replace SGANT with a new antenna.
The aim of the second spacewalk is to finish the job by installing the new antenna and transferring SGANT to storage.
They plan to reinstall a 'retroreflector' on the station.
In February, Sophie Adenot became the second French woman to fly into space; Claudie Haigneré was the first in 1996 and 2001.
The article includes quotes from Adenot about experiencing a 'transformational experience' and observing climate change from orbit.
Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.
Claim
Confidence
Status
ClaimThe second spacewalk to replace the faulty Space-to-Ground Antenna on the ISS took place on Tuesday, August 25, 2026.
ClaimDuring the second spacewalk, astronauts Anil Menon (NASA) and Sophie Adenot (ESA) installed and connected a spare Space-to-Ground Antenna on the ISS.
ClaimDuring the second spacewalk, the failed antenna was moved from the Z-1 truss to External Stowage Platform-3 (ESP-3) on the starboard side of the truss.
ClaimThe Space-to-Ground Antenna (SGANT) is a critical link that enables high-speed data transmission between the ISS and NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston.
ClaimThe Space-to-Ground Antenna (SGANT) had ceased being able to track NASA's data relay satellites since November, rendering it unusable, and a second antenna had been in use to maintain communications.
ClaimDuring the first spacewalk on August 18, 2026, astronauts Anil Menon and Sophie Adenot successfully removed the faulty Space-to-Ground Antenna but ran into delays with stubborn bolts and connectors, preventing them from installing the replacement.
ClaimThe first spacewalk on August 18, 2026, lasted 6 hours and 23 minutes, beginning at 8:29 a.m. EDT (12:29 GMT) and ending at 2:52 p.m. EDT (18:52 GMT).
ClaimSophie Adenot is the fifth French citizen to perform a spacewalk, after Jean-Loup Chrétien, Jean-Pierre Haigneré, Philippe Perrin, and Thomas Pesquet.
ClaimThe second spacewalk's aim was to retrieve a spare Space-to-Ground Antenna from external stowage, install it on the Z-1 truss, and move the failed antenna to a more permanent storage location.
ClaimDuring the second spacewalk, Anil Menon was positioned at the end of the Canadarm2 robotic arm, and Sophie Adenot traversed by handrails to join him.
ClaimAnne McClain, from Mission Control, sang a parody of The Buggles' 'Video Killed the Radio Star' with the lyric 'You just saved the video dish' after the successful antenna replacement.
ClaimAnil Menon said that during the first spacewalk, they wanted everything to go perfectly, but things were different than expected, and he was impressed that contingencies were well thought out.
ClaimThe plan for the second spacewalk also included possibly reinstalling a retroreflector on the exterior of the station, if no bolts or other unforeseen problems slowed them down.