French astronaut Sophie Adenot will remain aboard the International Space Station (ISS) a few days longer than planned after NASA postponed her return to Earth due to unfavorable weather conditions in the splashdown zone off the California coast. The American space agency had initially scheduled the undocking of the Crew-12 mission for Monday, October 5.
Following a review of weather and sea-state conditions in the Pacific recovery area, NASA said it is now targeting no earlier than 1:05 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, October 7, for the spacecraft to detach from the orbiting laboratory. If that timeline holds, Adenot and her crewmates — American astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev — would splash down in the Pacific Ocean around 3:25 p.m. GMT on Thursday, October 8.
The delay adds a few more days to what has already been a record-setting mission for the 44-year-old native of Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire in central France. She launched on February 13 and has now spent nearly eight months in orbit. On September 3, she became the European astronaut — male or female — to have completed the longest single mission in space, surpassing 230 consecutive days in orbit.
Adenot celebrated her 44th birthday aboard the ISS in July. Her extended stay means she will have spent well over seven months in microgravity, a duration that carries significant physiological implications for astronauts, including muscle and bone loss, cardiovascular changes, and fluid shifts that require a period of rehabilitation after landing.
Once the capsule splashes down, the crew will be recovered and flown to Houston, Texas, where NASA's Johnson Space Center is located. Adenot will then be transferred to the European Space Agency's astronaut center in Cologne, Germany, where she will be reunited with her family and begin a structured post-flight reconditioning program.
The Crew-12 mission is part of NASA's commercial crew rotation program, which ferries astronauts to and from the ISS aboard privately built spacecraft. Splashdown operations in the Pacific require calm seas and favorable wind conditions to ensure the safety of the capsule and the recovery teams. NASA said the decision to delay undocking was made to guarantee optimal conditions for the crew's return.
Adenot's mission has drawn particular attention in France and across Europe, where she has become a prominent figure in the continent's space program. Her record-breaking stay underscores the growing role of European astronauts in long-duration orbital missions and the importance of international cooperation aboard the ISS, which has been continuously occupied for more than two decades.
The space station itself continues to host a rotating international crew, with the next set of astronauts already preparing to take over duties aboard the orbital outpost. For Adenot, the final days in orbit will involve packing experiments, completing handover tasks, and preparing for the physical demands of re-entry and gravity.
Weather-related delays are not uncommon for crewed space missions, particularly when splashdown occurs in open ocean. Mission managers monitor wave height, wind speed, and cloud cover in the recovery zone, and they can adjust the undocking schedule within a limited window before the spacecraft's orbital mechanics require a different return opportunity.
NASA said it will continue to evaluate conditions and provide updates as the new target date approaches. For now, Adenot remains in orbit, her return to Earth postponed by the same forces that govern any sea-based recovery: the weather.