The Dragon spacecraft, carrying four astronauts, successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) at 3:15 p.m. EST Saturday, completing a journey that began with a pre-dawn launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Friday.
The Crew-12 mission comprises NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot of France, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. The crew will spend approximately eight months aboard the ISS conducting scientific research focused on preparing for future human exploration beyond Earth’s orbit and improving methods for food production in space.
“With Crew-12 safely on orbit, America and our international partners once again demonstrated the professionalism, preparation, and teamwork required for human spaceflight,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman stated following the launch.
The arrival of Crew-12 restores the ISS to its full, seven-person capacity, addressing a shortfall created by the unscheduled return of the Crew-11 mission in January. That earlier crew’s departure was prompted by a medical issue requiring one of its members to receive immediate attention on Earth – marking NASA’s first-ever in-flight medical evacuation. For a month, the station operated with a reduced crew of three.
The launch of Crew-12 marks the 12th crew rotation mission utilizing SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The Falcon 9 rocket successfully landed back on Earth shortly after launch, completing its first stage duties.
Simultaneously, NASA is preparing for the Artemis II mission, a ten-day flight intended to send a crew of four astronauts around the moon. The launch is currently scheduled for as early as March, representing the first crewed lunar mission since Apollo 17 in 1972.
