Two astronauts conducted a successful spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. NASA astronaut Jessica Meir and ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot were part of this historic event.
The spacewalk began at 8:30 a.m. ET (1240 GMT) and lasted more than six hours, according to palmbeachpost.com. Meir and Adenot started by replacing a planar deflector on the forward port of the station’s Harmony Node 2, according to a report from Space.com. This retroreflector helps guide visiting spacecraft during docking operations. The old deflector had become covered in residue from earlier spacecraft arrivals and departures.
Meir held a spent camera while installing its replacement. After completing that task, Adenot moved to the Quest airlock to collect samples for a scientific study. She swabbed areas on the exterior of the airlock and her gloves for possible microorganisms.
Meanwhile, Meir used one end of the Canadarm2 robotic arm to reach the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. There, she tightened 46 bolts in preparation for future maintenance of the particle physics detector.
The spacewalk was the 284th supporting the International Space Station’s assembly and upgrades. It marked the seventh spacewalk of 2026 and the sixth all-female EVA in history.
Meir’s total time spent on EVA is 49 hours and 22 minutes, making her third among women astronauts at NASA. This was Meir’s seventh spacewalk and Adenot’s third.
Adenot reported losing mobility in her left shoulder joint toward the end of the EVA. Meir checked Adenot’s extravehicular mobility unit and determined that a cable had gotten caught between the shoulder MLI and the rotation joint.
The International Space Station has been in low-Earth orbit for more than 25 years, typically about 260 miles high. A spacewalk is also known as extra-vehicular activity, which refers to any work done outside a spacecraft or station. The next spacewalk was scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 1, and viewers could watch it live through NASA’s free NASA+ app or platforms like Amazon Prime.
This was the sixth all-female spacewalk in history, with Meir having previously participated in the first one in 2019. Adenot is the fifth French astronaut to conduct a spacewalk, and this was her third in a row. The spacewalk was part of a mission involving Crew-12, which launched from Cape Canaveral in mid-February 2026.
The International Space Station has hosted astronauts from many countries over its long history. NASA continues to support regular maintenance and upgrades of the station through such activities.
This event showed continued progress in expanding opportunities for women in space missions. The spacewalk was part of Expedition 75 and marked a significant milestone.
IMAGE: iss074e0315895 (Feb. 16, 2026) — Expedition 74 Flight Engineers (from left) Sophie Adenot of ESA (European Space Agency) and Jessica Meir of NASA take a portrait together before beginning their exercise sessions. Afterward, Adenot worked out on the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED), which mimics free weights on Earth, while Meir jogged on the COLBERT treadmill. Both exercise devices are located inside the Tranquility module. Credit: ESA/Sophie Adenot. Photo: NASA Johnson Space Center / Wikimedia, Public domain