SpaceX launched the Dragon spacecraft with the Crew-12 expedition members. They will replace the previous crew, which was evacuated to Earth for medical reasons.
The launch took place on February 13. The Falcon 9 rocket successfully delivered Dragon into its designated orbit. Its first stage performed a return maneuver and landed on a platform located near the launch site at Cape Canaveral.
The Crew-12 team is made up of four people: Commander Jessica Meir (NASA), Pilot Jack Hathaway (NASA), and Mission Specialists Sophie Adenot (ESA) and Andrey Fedyaev (Roscosmos). The flight plan assumes they’ll dock with the ISS on the morning of February 14.
In January 2026, for the first time in many years, only three people remained aboard the ISS. This was due to medical problems experienced by one of the Crew-11 expedition members. As a result, NASA made the unprecedented decision to bring the crew back to Earth ahead of schedule. This happened on January 15. For confidentiality reasons, NASA did not disclose the astronaut’s name or the nature of the health problems.
After Crew-12 arrives at the ISS, the station’s personnel will once again increase to the standard seven. The flight program includes a series of scientific experiments and several spacewalks. The astronauts are scheduled to spend approximately six months aboard the orbital outpost.
It should be noted that Crew-12 was the first mission in which NASA permitted astronauts to bring modern gadgets into space.
