Table of Contents
Launch Details
SpaceX and NASA launched the Crew-12 mission Friday from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 5:15 a.m. The Dragon spacecraft carries four astronauts and will take approximately 34 hours to autonomously dock with the International Space Station’s Harmony module at 3:15 p.m. Saturday, traveling at 17,000 mph in Earth orbit.
Crew Members
Onboard are NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.
What an absolutely wonderful start to the day. This mission has shown in many ways what it means to be mission-focused at NASA. In the last couple of weeks, we brought Crew-11 home early, we pulled forward Crew-12 to the launch date today, all while simultaneously making preparations for the Artemis 2 mission, which its next window will open up in early March.
Mission Context and Prior Evacuation
This flight marks the 12th crew rotation with SpaceX to the orbiting laboratory as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Crew-12 will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to prepare humans for future exploration missions to the Moon and Mars, while also benefiting people on Earth.
In January, NASA made an unprecedented decision to bring Crew-11 home early from the ISS after a medical emergency on January 7, marking the first time in the station’s 25-year history that a mission was cut short for health reasons. That crew returned to Earth on January 15. A single crew member experienced the medical situation and is now stable, following consultations with medical and agency leadership.
For over 60 years, NASA has set the standard for safety and security in crewed space flight. The health and the well-being of our astronauts is always and will be our highest priority.
