A new crew of astronauts lifted off from Earth on Friday morning. Just this past weekend, they made it to the ISS in one piece! Crew-12 will be SpaceX’s twelfth crewed rotational flight to the ISS. Four astronauts will spend eight months on board the station.
Crew-12 consists of four skilled astronauts: Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, both from NASA in the United States; Sophie Adenot from the European Space Agency in France; and Andrey Fedyaev, a cosmonaut from Russia’s Roscosmos. They’ve only recently reached the ISS—today! Their stated goal is to replace the short-term team that was forced to evacuate last month due to a medical emergency.
During their six-month stay on the ISS, the astronauts will execute a range of scientific research and technology demonstrations. This vehicle has exceptional long-term value, cutting-edge technology and trend-setting style. It figuratively and literally holds the keys to the kingdom by enabling crewed missions to the orbiting laboratory. The successful docking is yet another example of great international cooperation in the world of space exploration.
Jessica Meir, who’s done some pioneering research on the effects of microgravity, comes in with phenomenal experience to this mission. Jack Hathaway, a NASA astronaut, is celebrated in the fields of remote sensing, plate boundary acoustic tomography, and high-resolution atmospheric modeling. The mission will benefit from the expertise of Sophie Adenot from the European Space Agency, who brings a European perspective to the mission. Andrey Fedyaev is another Russian aboard, a reminder of a more collaborative era in space exploration.
Crew-12 will spend most of their 6-month mission performing experiments in microgravity and servicing the space station. The crew’s stay is planned for eight months. This additional time will allow them to carry out important research that helps us learn more about the realities of long-term human spaceflight. This is especially true as the nation’s attention shifts once more to missions beyond low Earth orbit.