Four astronauts — Jessica Meir (commander), Jack Hathaway, Sophie Adenot and Andrey Fedyaev — are set to lift off to the ISS after Crew-11 returned early in the station's first medical evacuation. SpaceX has temporarily grounded Falcon 9 launches while it investigates an unspecified issue, adding uncertainty to the February 11 launch plan (with two backup days). The eight-month Crew-12 expedition will focus on microgravity research and trial an AI/AR-assisted medical ultrasound system.
Crew-12 Poised for ISS Launch After Historic Medical Evacuation and Rocket Pause
French astronaut Sophie Adenot, left, with NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway will blast off to the ISS (Pau Barrena)(Pau Barrena/AFP/AFP)
Four astronauts are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station (ISS) next week amid a flurry of schedule shifts and technical checks that followed the station's first-ever medical evacuation. SpaceX has temporarily grounded its Falcon 9 fleet while investigators examine an unspecified issue discovered during recent operations.
Mission Overview
The Crew-12 team — commander Jessica Meir, pilot Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev — is set to replace Crew-11, which returned to Earth in January a month earlier than planned after NASA carried out a medical evacuation. NASA has not released details about the health issue.
Why The Schedule Shifted
Because the station briefly operated with a reduced crew of three after the evacuation, NASA moved the Crew-12 launch forward by a few days to maintain continuous staffing aboard the orbital laboratory, which orbits roughly 400 kilometres above Earth. That move later intersected with preparations for NASA's Artemis 2 lunar mission: a February 6–11 window for Artemis 2 was delayed to a window beginning March 6 after leaks were detected during final testing.
Crew Notes And Science Goals
Jessica Meir, a former marine biologist who has studied animals in extreme environments, will command the eight-month mission. Sophie Adenot will become the second French woman in space, following Claudie Haigneré. Adenot plans to test an AI- and augmented-reality-enabled system designed to help crew members perform medical ultrasounds autonomously.
Andrey Fedyaev, who will replace Oleg Artemyev after Artemyev was removed from the flight roster in November, previously served aboard the ISS with Crew-6 in 2023. Russian media reported that Artemyev had been photographing and transmitting material with a phone; Roscosmos stated only that he was reassigned.
Station Lifespan And Launch Details
The ISS, about the size of a football field and continuously occupied for roughly 25 years, is planned to be deliberately deorbited and guided to a remote impact area in the Pacific Ocean in 2030. The Crew-12 launch is scheduled from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 1100 GMT on February 11, with two backup days available if the attempt is scrubbed.
"It was a revelation," Sophie Adenot recalled of seeing Claudie Haigneré launch when Adenot was 14. "At that moment, I told myself: one day, that will be me."
What To Watch: confirmation of a Falcon 9 return-to-flight timeline from SpaceX, any update from NASA about the earlier medical evacuation, and routine science activities aboard the ISS including microgravity human research and medical technology demonstrations.
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