On September 1, 2026, NASA astronaut Jessica Meir and European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot stepped out of the Quest Joint Airlock to perform the sixth all-female spacewalk in the history of human spaceflight.
Orbiting 400km (250 miles) above Earth and travelling at 17,200mph (27,600 kph), the International Space Station is in a constant free-fall – plummeting towards Earth but constantly missing it.
And it's under these conditions that almost 300 spacewalks have been performed since the Space Station was launched.
More on the ISS
Meir and Adenot spent 6 hours and 49 minutes working outside the Space Station with planet Earth glowing bright blue below – or above – them.
NASA astronaut Jessica Meir shared some selfies and an image of her co-spacewalker Adenot via X, joking "Photo or it didn't happen".
The primary goal of the spacewalk was replacing a key retroreflector on the forward port of the Harmony module.
This amazing piece of kit enables approaching spacecraft to measure their speed and position relative to the Space Station so they can dock safely.
The astronaut duo also swapped out a degraded high-definition camera on the Space Station's main truss.
Toward the end of the excursion, Adenot reported a sudden loss of mobility in her suit's left shoulder joint.
Meir inspected her partner's suit outside the airlock and diagnosed that the problem was with one of Adenot's glove heaters.
Astronauts on spacewalks often have to undertake fiddly tasks wearing thick gloves in the freezing cold of space, so their suits are fitted with glove heaters to help keep their fingers warm.
Adenot's glove heater harness had snagged within her suit's shoulder assembly. Meir unzipped the outer sleeve layer, freed the catch and restored full motion to Adenot's arm.
As these images show, it takes a lot of guts to step outside the Space Station and execute 7-hour-long spacewalks to mend, repair and upgrade the orbiting laboratory.
But the images show the reward: stunning vistas of planet Earth against the inky backdrop of space.
