Briefs · Frontier Science
εpsilon
She went up for eight months. She came back with Europe’s record. Firstly, the numbers. Sophie Adenot launched on 13 February 2026 and splashed down on 8 October: 237 days, 5 hours and 18 minutes. That beats Luca Parmitano’s European record by more than 35 days, and it is the longest SpaceX Dragon mission yet. Officially, εpsilon means a small quantity; unofficially, it was the biggest European flight ever. Secondly, the work. Three spacewalks in fourteen days — 19 hours and 42 minutes outside — made her the first French woman to walk in space. Inside, she logged 218 hours on 35 European payloads, from health to materials to fluid physics, plus metal 3D printing and a new exercise device. Thirdly, the audience. She took 1.1 million followers along, generated 403 million views, and reached more than 290,000 students. Gravity returned on 10 October in Cologne; her body will take two to three weeks to remember it. Conclusion: εpsilon was small by name only. Europe stayed up there longer than ever — and came home taller.
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