Crew Set for Space Station Mission After Medical Issue Ends Previous Expedition

On Sunday, two American astronauts, a French astronaut, and a Russian cosmonaut expressed their eagerness to launch on Wednesday toward the International Space Station. They are set to replace a crew that returned to Earth early last month due to a medical emergency.

The Crew 12 mission, under the command of Jessica Meir and comprised of astronauts Jack Hathaway, Sophie Adenot from the European Space Agency, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, is scheduled for lift-off aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 6:01 a.m. EST on Wednesday. If everything proceeds as planned, the crew should arrive at the space station and dock by Thursday at 10:30 a.m.

The Falcon 9 rocket is poised for launch, ready to transport the two women and two men to the orbital laboratory. This mission, initially on hold due to the NASA Artemis II moon mission, advanced its schedule after a hydrogen leak delayed the moon mission to March.

Meir and her team traveled from Houston to the Kennedy Space Center on Friday. Their rocket was set up at the nearby station on Saturday morning, while SpaceX conducted a test fire of its first-stage engines early on Sunday to prepare for the launch.

“We arrived a couple of days ago, and this is really starting to feel like we’re about to launch,” Meir remarked during a virtual press conference at the Kennedy Space Center, where they are currently in pre-flight medical quarantine. She shared her anticipation and readiness alongside anecdotes of family time on the beach in Florida.

Jessica Meir posted on social media platform X a short video with her daughter, showing the use of an air-propelled toy rocket, captioned: “We had some very welcome family time on the beach in the Florida sunshine,” mentioning her daughter’s budding rocketry skills.

Since the premature departure of the four Crew 11 members, who Meir and her team are designated to replace, the station has functioned with a minimal crew of three: commander Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, fellow cosmonaut Sergey Mikaev, and NASA astronaut Chris Williams, all launched in November via a Russian Soyuz craft.

The arrival of Crew 12 will increase the station’s staff to seven. This not only aids Williams in managing the U.S. segment but also permits the resumption of full experimental operations and assures readiness for two-person NASA spacewalks, important for emergency responses.

During a virtual news conference, the Crew 12 ensemble, in pre-flight quarantine at the Kennedy Space Center, addressed various queries. The group consists of Cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway, commander Jessica Meir, and French astronaut Sophie Adenot.

The Crew 11 team, previously planned to return around February 20 following a handover with Crew 12, faced an unscheduled return to Earth on January 15 due to an undisclosed medical condition affecting one crew member. Fortunately, they safely landed, all appearing in good health afterward.

Although Crew 12 missed an in-space handover, Meir assured her crew is fully prepared to commence their duties aboard the station. Meir and Fedyaev have previous long-duration station experience while Hathaway and Adenot are embarking on their first space voyage.

“Chris has been up there since Thanksgiving and is well settled. We’ve talked both as a crew and individually, and he’s doing exceptionally well. The station will be in great shape,” Meir noted. She also mentioned that Crew 12 had a debriefing with Crew 11 that provided useful insights, emphasizing that while there are some updates, the core aspects of the space station remain essentially unchanged.