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Anil Menon wraps up second spacewalk
The crew members needed more time than expected to disconnect electrical cables and loosen bolts, delaying work to install a replacement antenna. The installation work is expected to be completed during a future spacewalk.
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Staff Reporter - Tue, 18, Aug 2026
- 23:39 EDT
- 55
ANIL MENON / NASA
NASA astronaut Anil Menon on Aug. 18 concluded his second spacewalk outside the International Space Station, removing a failed space-to-ground antenna.
He took the spacewalk along with European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot.
ALSO READ: Anil Menon gives glimpse of growing, cooking food in space
During the 6-hour, 23-minute spacewalk, Menon and Adenot completed the removal of a failed space-to-ground antenna and performed a long-duration tie-down of the unit on the space station truss structure, NASA said in a statement.
The crew members needed more time than expected to disconnect electrical cables and loosen bolts, delaying work to install a replacement antenna. The installation work is expected to be completed during a future spacewalk.
.@Astro_Anil and @Soph_Astro began completed their spacewalk at 2:52 p.m. EDT today after six hours and 23 minutes outside the space station. More... https://t.co/cxknPlrkAz pic.twitter.com/coNUX423qW
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) August 18, 2026
Near the end of the spacewalk, the crew also performed cleanup tasks and an inspection and swap of a portable foot restraint near the Quest airlock.
The space station continues to operate with a fully functional space-to-ground antenna, which provides high-data-rate communications with NASA’s Tracking Data and Relay Satellites and control centers across the world, including the agency’s Mission Control Center in Houston.
On the ground, mission planners will discuss the forward plan for the work scheduled to be completed during the next spacewalk, which is currently planned for Tuesday, Aug. 25.
U.S. Spacewalk 97 was Menon’s second career spacewalk and first for Adenot. She is the first French woman to conduct a spacewalk. It was also the 282nd spacewalk in support of space station assembly, maintenance and upgrades.
The spacewalk follows Menon’s excursion on Aug. 6, when Menon, along with a colleague, spent 6 hours and 27 minutes working on the station’s power system.
Menon was born and raised in Minneapolis to Ukrainian and Indian immigrant parents.
Menon was selected by NASA to join the 2021 Astronaut Candidate Class. He reported for duty in January 2022. Menon was SpaceX’s first flight surgeon, helping to launch its first humans into space during the Demo-2 mission and building a medical organization to support human spaceflight during future missions. Prior to that, he served NASA as the crew flight surgeon for various expeditions aboard the International Space Station.
Menon is an actively practicing emergency medicine physician with fellowship training in wilderness medicine. As a physician, he was a first responder during the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the 2015 earthquake in Nepal and the 2011 Reno Air Races crash.
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