A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched at 5:15 a.m. EST on February 13 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, carrying four astronauts on the Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station. The crew consists of NASA's Jessica Meir (commander) and Jack Hathaway (pilot), European Space Agency's Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. They are scheduled to dock with the ISS on Saturday afternoon after a 34-hour flight.
This launch was moved up in the schedule after the previous Crew-11 mission departed the space station early on January 15—about a month ahead of schedule—due to an undisclosed serious medical condition affecting one crew member. This marked the first time in 65 years of human spaceflight that NASA cut short a mission for medical reasons. The early departure left the ISS operating with only three crew members (one NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts) instead of the standard seven, forcing NASA to postpone spacewalks and defer other activities.
The Crew-12 astronauts will spend approximately eight to nine months aboard the ISS conducting scientific research, including studies on pneumonia-causing bacteria, plant and microbe interactions for space food production, medical experiments involving blood flow and blood clots in microgravity, and testing new medical equipment including an AI-powered ultrasound system and a filter to convert drinking water into emergency IV fluid. The mission represents the 12th long-duration ISS crew transported by SpaceX since the company began flying NASA astronauts in May 2020.
