ESA confirms Sophie Adenot’s splashdown and European flight record

ESA expects Sophie Adenot and her Crew-12 crewmates to undock from the International Space Station at around 12:05 GMT (14:05 CEST) on 7 October. The four astronauts are scheduled to splash down off California at 15:34 GMT on 8 October, where a recovery team will collect them. ESA says the timings may change. [1]

The return would close Adenot’s first space mission, εpsilon. She launched on 13 February aboard Dragon Freedom with NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrei Fedyaev. ESA says the mission is setting a European record for the longest single spaceflight. Adenot reached 200 consecutive days aboard the station on 3 September; ESA names Luca Parmitano’s 200-day Beyond mission as the previous record. [1]

ESA says Adenot completed three spacewalks during the mission, spending a total of 19 hours and 42 minutes outside the station. She also helped test a European exercise device and metal 3D printing in orbit. [1]

ESA plans to livestream the undocking and splashdown on ESA Web TV and YouTube. Its page gives conflicting CEST times for splashdown — 15:34 in a summary and 17:34 in its detailed schedule — but consistently lists 15:34 GMT. [1]

Update

The European Space Agency (ESA) reports that Sophie Adenot and her Crew-12 crewmates splashed down off the California coast near Los Angeles at 15:34 GMT on 8 October 2026, completing their return from the International Space Station. [2]

According to ESA, Adenot returned with NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrei Fedyaev. ESA reports that the crew undocked on 7 October at 12:05 GMT and that their return journey lasted 27 hours and 29 minutes. [2]

According to ESA, Adenot spent 237 days, five hours and 18 minutes in space. The agency says her εpsilon mission set a European record for the longest single spaceflight, surpassing the previous record held by ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano by more than 35 days. [2]