Watch Sophie Adenot return to Earth

ESA Web TV and ESA’s YouTube channel will stream live the undocking and the splashdown. Check the detailed schedule at the end of this article for more details.  

A fiery return

After undocking from the zenith-facing port of the Harmony module, Crew-12 will perform a series of burns to move their Dragon spacecraft away from the Station before beginning the journey back to Earth.  

Dragon’s heat shield provides protection from the hot plasma formed in front of the capsule as it comes down through the atmosphere. The spacecraft faces extreme heat during this re-entry phase — as much as 1600°C. 

Sophie and her crewmates are planned to splash down off the coast of California on 8 October at 15:34 GMT/17:34 CEST, where a recovery team will pick the four astronauts up and then return them to solid ground for the first time in nearly eight months.  

A few hours later, Sophie will fly to Cologne, Germany, where ESA’s European Astronaut Centre (EAC) is located. She will begin her post-flight activities at EAC and the nearby :envihab facility, operated by the German Aerospace Center.  

A record-breaking mission

Sophie was launched into orbit on 13 February 2026 for εpsilon, her first space mission, together with NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrei Fedyaev aboard Dragon Freedom.  

Sophie is the second French female astronaut in history, after Claudie Haigneré, who flew to space for the first time in August 1996, 30 years ago. Sophie was the first French woman to conduct a spacewalk, and the second European woman to do so, after ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti in 2022. She completed three spacewalks in 14 days, spending a total of 19 hours and 42 minutes working outside the Station. 

The εpsilon mission is setting a new European record for the longest single spaceflight, with Sophie reaching the mark of 200 consecutive days aboard the Station on 3 September 2026. ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano held the previous record for his 200-day Beyond mission,  followed closely by Thomas Pesquet’s 199-day Alpha mission.  

Science all the way

Throughout εpsilon, Sophie has carried out a wide range of European experiments spanning fields from health research to materials science, biology, fluid physics, radiation physics and fundamental science. 

Alongside this broad research programme, Sophie has also helped test technologies for future exploration missions, including the new European exercise device E4D and in-orbit metal 3D printing, and supported commercial research payloads. 

Return schedule

Tune in to see the undocking of Sophie and Crew-12 on 7 October at around 12:05 GMT/14:05 CEST and the splashdown on 8 October at 15:34 GMT/15:34 CEST.   

ESA Web TV and ESA’s YouTube channel will stream live the undocking and the splashdown. 

All times are subject to change.