SpaceX launched Falcon 9 early this morning, sending four astronauts on NASA’s Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station occurred at 5:15 AM ET, with NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev aboard Crew Dragon capsule ‘Freedom.’
SpaceX and NASA have pushed back the launch of its Crew-12 mission for the second time this week, citing weather concerns along the ascent corridor the rocket will follow on its path to orbit.
A Wednesday launch attempt for NASA’s Crew-12 mission has been scrubbed due to unfavorable weather along the Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon spacecraft’s flight path, pushing the next opportunity to no earlier than 5:38 AM ET on Thursday, Feb. 12th.
Following a weather review Monday, mission teams opted to stand down from the February 11 window. Conditions along the trajectory remain a concern for the new target date, though forecasters expect improvement heading into a backup window on Friday, February 13th.
The four-person crew — NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev — continues pre-flight quarantine at Kennedy Space Center as they await their ride to the International Space Station.
Go for Launch • Cape Canaveral SFS, FL • SLC-40
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Mission | Crew-12 (crewed Dragon mission to the ISS for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program) |
| Organization | SpaceX |
| Rocket | Falcon 9 |
| Launch Site | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, USA |
| Pad | Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) |
| Window Opens | Thursday, 02/12/2026 5:38:00 AM (ET) |
| Window Closes | Thursday, 02/12/2026 5:38:00 AM (ET) |
| Destination | Low Earth Orbit |
| Status Info | Current T-0 confirmed by official or reliable sources. |
| Mission Description | SpaceX Crew-12 is the twelfth crewed operational flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. |
| Countdown (to window open) | — |
The mission will launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. If the Thursday window holds, the crew would dock with the station around 10:30 AM ET on Friday.
With NASA’s announcement that Crew 12 would now target Thursday, February 12, a potential range conflict comes into focus: United Launch Alliance and the US Space Force plan to launch Vulcan on a national security mission at roughly the same time on Thursday.
Go for Launch • Cape Canaveral SFS, FL • SLC-41
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Mission | USSF-87 (two GSSAP space situational awareness satellites to near-geosynchronous orbit) |
| Organization | United Launch Alliance |
| Rocket | Vulcan VC4S |
| Launch Site | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, USA |
| Pad | Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) |
| Window Opens | Thursday, 02/12/2026 3:00:00 AM (ET) |
| Window Closes | Thursday, 02/12/2026 7:50:00 AM (ET) |
| Destination | Geostationary Orbit |
| Status Info | Current T-0 confirmed by official or reliable sources. |
| Mission Description | USSF-87 will launch two identical Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) satellites, GSSAP-7 and GSSAP-8, directly to a near-geosynchronous orbit approximately 36,000 km above the equator. Data from GSSAP will contribute to timely and accurate orbital predictions, improving spaceflight safety and satellite collision avoidance. |
| Countdown (to window open) | — |
Given NASA’s announcement, one must wonder if the date for USSF-87 will change, or if ULA and the Space Force will stand pat, expecting a second change to Crew 12.
Stay tuned.
The three astronauts and one cosmonaut on NASA’s Crew 12 flight to the International Space Station have entered quarantine in preparation for their upcoming launch in about two weeks. This is a normal step in the launch campaign, and is designed to reduce the chances of communicable diseases affecting the Crew 12 flyers as well as others already aboard ISS.
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev will remain in Houston until February 6th, when they are expected to fly to Kennedy Space Center for final launch preparations.
NASA has also announced launch windows for Crew 12:
| SpaceX Crew-12 Launch Windows | |
|---|---|
| Mission | NASA/SpaceX Crew-12 |
| Destination | International Space Station |
| Launch Site | SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station |
| Window 1 | Feb. 11 — 6:00 a.m. EST |
| Window 2 | Feb. 12 — 5:38 a.m. EST |
| Window 3 | Feb. 13 — 5:15 a.m. EST |
| Note | NASA continues working toward potential launch windows for both Artemis II and Crew-12 in February. Final launch dates will be determined closer to flight. |
The launch will be the second crewed flight from SLC-40. Crew 9, carrying Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov, lifted off from the site on September 28, 2024, marking the second crewed launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station since Apollo 7 launched from LC-34. The ill-fated Boeing Crewed Flight Test (CFT) aboard Starliner was the first. The two CFT astronauts already aboard ISS, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, became part of Crew 9 once it was at ISS.
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule carrying the four-person Crew-11 team touched down in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego early Thursday, wrapping up a mission that lasted just over five months aboard the International Space Station.
NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov splashed down at 12:41 AM PT. SpaceX recovery crews pulled the spacecraft and astronauts from the water shortly after.
The crew came home roughly three weeks ahead of schedule due to an undisclosed medical issue affecting one of the four. Citing privacy, NASA has declined to identify which crew member is involved but confirmed the individual remains in stable condition. All four astronauts were transported to a local hospital for evaluation following splashdown—a precautionary measure to take advantage of medical resources on the ground. Presumably, the crew member with the medical issue can now begin treatment.
“I couldn’t be prouder of our astronauts and the teams on the ground at NASA, SpaceX, and across our international partnerships,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a statement. “Their professionalism and focus kept the mission on track, even with an adjusted timeline.”
The crew launched from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A on August 1, 2025, and docked to the station about 15 hours later. Over the course of 167 days in orbit, they circled Earth more than 2,670 times and racked up nearly 71 million miles.
Crew-11 conducted more than 140 experiments during their stay and marked the 25th anniversary of continuous human presence aboard the ISS on November 2. The mission was Fincke’s fourth trip to space, bringing his career total to 549 days—fourth-highest among all NASA astronauts. For Cardman and Platonov, it was their first spaceflight.
After a planned overnight hospital stay, all four crew members will head to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for standard postflight medical checks and reconditioning.
NASA and SpaceX are targeting Wednesday, January 14, at 5:00 PM EST for the undocking of Dragon Endeavour from the International Space Station, beginning the first medical evacuation in the orbiting laboratory’s 25-year history. If weather and all other factors are acceptable, the four-person Crew-11 team is expected to splash down off the coast of San Diego, California, at approximately 3:40 AM ET on Thursday, January 15.
NASA has published the following schedule for Crew-11’s departure:
| Time (EST) | Event |
|---|---|
| Wednesday, January 14 | |
| 3:00 PM | Hatch closure coverage begins |
| 3:30 PM | Hatch closing |
| 4:45 PM | Undocking coverage begins |
| 5:00 PM | Undocking |
| Thursday, January 15 | |
| 2:15 AM | Reentry coverage begins |
| 2:50 AM | Deorbit burn |
| 3:40 AM | Splashdown |
| 5:45 AM | Post-return media conference |
The roughly 11-hour journey from undocking to splashdown follows standard Crew Dragon procedures. Mission managers continue monitoring weather and sea states in the Pacific Ocean recovery zone, and the precise splashdown location will be confirmed closer to undocking.
NASA officials have repeatedly emphasized this is a “controlled medical evacuation” rather than an emergency return. In true emergencies, Dragon can bring crew home within hours, but the agency opted for standard departure procedures to minimize risk.
“Safely conducting our missions is our highest priority,” NASA stated. “These are the situations NASA and our partners train for and prepare to execute safely.”
The affected crew member remains stable. NASA has declined to identify which of the four astronauts is experiencing the medical concern, citing privacy policies. The issue first came to light on January 7 when JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui requested a private medical conference with flight surgeons.
As many of you have heard, our crew will be coming home just a few weeks earlier than planned due to an unexpected medical issue. First and foremost, we are all OK. Everyone on board is stable, safe, and well cared for. This was a deliberate decision to allow the right medical evaluations to happen on the ground, where the full range of diagnostic capability exists. It’s the right call, even if it’s a bit bittersweet.
This photo was taken as we prepared our space suits for return—a normal, methodical step in getting ready to come home, and a reminder that this decision was made calmly and carefully, with people at the center.
What stands out most to me is how clearly NASA cares about its people. Flight surgeons, engineers, managers, and support teams came together quickly and professionally to chart the best path forward. The ground teams—across mission control centers and partner organizations around the world—have been extraordinary.
We’re proud of the joint work we’ve done and the camaraderie we’ve shared, including some great songs and more than a few dad jokes. It has been a privilege to serve aboard the International Space Station—an extraordinary orbiting laboratory and a symbol of what nations can achieve together. Living and working here with our international partners has been both humbling and deeply rewarding.
This moment also highlights the strength of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and our partnership with SpaceX. Dragon provides a safe, reliable, and flexible capability to bring us home on short notice when it’s the right thing to do.
We’re leaving the ISS in great hands. The three crewmates who arrived in November will continue the mission, and they’ll be joined by Crew-12 in just a few weeks. Explore 74!
We’re grateful for the teamwork, proud of the mission, and looking forward to coming home soon—back to our loved ones and to resolving any medical questions with the best care available.
— Ad Astra per Aspera!
NASA Astronaut Mike Fincke, January 11, 2026
Interestingly, Mike Finke gave the update outside of NASA’s official media channels, instead, he posted it to his LinkedIn page. That’s not to say that NASA did not know and approve of what Finke had to say, just that he made it a personal statement from a personal channel.
The Crew-11 astronauts have spent recent days preparing for departure. A key step involves fit-checking their Dragon pressure suits—necessary because the spine lengthens and body fluids shift toward the head in microgravity, affecting torso and limb dimensions. The crew also tested suit audio and video communication systems.
Commander Zena Cardman drained water from two NASA spacesuits aboard the station—the same suits that would have been used for the January 8 spacewalk that was cancelled when the medical situation arose. Yui and Platonov continued research activities, with Platonov studying blood vessel function in microgravity and methods for preventing blood clots during spaceflight.
When Endeavour undocks, the International Space Station will be left with only three crew members—the smallest complement in years:
The trio arrived November 27, 2025, aboard Soyuz MS-28 and will remain aboard until July 2026. Williams will serve as the sole American operator for NASA’s systems and science experiments until Crew-12 arrives.
NASA and Roscosmos intentionally place astronauts on different spacecraft precisely for situations like this. The U.S. and Russian segments of the station are interdependent, requiring at least one person from each country to keep operations running.
“This is one of the reasons why we fly mixed crews on Soyuz and US vehicles,” said NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya in a NASA press conference last Friday. “We want to make sure we have operators for both segments.”
NASA is assessing whether to accelerate the Crew-12 launch, currently targeting no earlier than February 15. The Crew-12 team includes NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has indicated the agency is comfortable with the gap in crew size. The station has operated with skeleton crews before—as few as two people remained aboard following the Columbia tragedy in 2003.
Asked whether an accelerated Crew-12 launch could impact Artemis II preparations at Kennedy Space Center, Isaacman was direct: “These would be totally separate campaigns at this point.” NASA’s crewed lunar mission remains on track for its February launch window.
While unprecedented for the International Space Station, medical evacuations from orbit have occurred before. In November 1985, Soviet Salyut 7 commander Vladimir Vasyutin became seriously ill after two months in space and returned early with his crewmates.
Afterward, Cosmonaut Viktor Savinykh published a diary detailing the difficult situation. Like NASA today, Soviet officials declined to identify the specific medical problem for privacy reasons, though it is generally believed to have been a prostate infection.
The Crew-11 return demonstrates the value of having crew return vehicles permanently docked at the station. Dragon Endeavour has been attached to the Harmony module’s zenith port since August 2025, ready for exactly this contingency.
NASA coverage of undocking and splashdown will air on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. Following crew recovery, a media conference is scheduled for 5:45 AM EST on January 15.
The return will mark the end of Crew-11’s mission approximately three weeks ahead of schedule. Upon splashdown, the affected crew member will receive appropriate medical evaluation and care—the primary goal that prompted NASA’s decision to bring the team home early.
A Russian Soyuz rocket lifted a three person crew into orbit early Thursday, carrying one NASA astronaut and two Roscosmos cosmonauts to the International Space Station. Their arrival boosts the station’s population to ten as Expedition 73 prepares for its upcoming crew rotation and a busy stretch of science work.
NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson has returned to Earth from the International Space Station. She orbited Earth 2,944 times and traveled approximately 78 million miles during her 184 days in space.
Dyson was accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub and Oleg Kononenko, who concluded their record-breaking stay aboard the orbiting outpost. They both spent 374 days in low-Earth orbit on ISS, making that the longest time anybody has ever stayed on the station in a continuous stint. That breaks NASA astronaut Frank Rubio’s 371 day record, but Rubio maintains the longest record aboard ISS for a NASA astronaut.
The Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft launched March 23, and arrived at the station March 25, with Dyson, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus. Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya were aboard the station for 12 days before returning home with NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara on April 6.
According to NASA, following post-landing medical checks, the crew will return to the recovery staging city in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Dyson will then board a NASA plane bound for the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Yesterday’s planned launch of Soyuz M-25 to the International Space Station was aborted with twenty seconds left in the countdown. NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus are fine, and were evacuated from the Soyuz capsule shortly afterwards.
According to state-owned Russian domestic news agency RIA Novosti, the launch was canceled due to a voltage drawdown of a chemical power source.
“All preparations for liftoff on March 21 went without a hitch until around L-20-second mark when the Emergency Engine Cutoff, AVD, command interrupted the final countdown. At that moment, the launch control had already issued the “Pusk” (launch) command (normally issued at L-19 seconds), however, one umbilical mast, VKM (from the Russian Verkhnyaya Kabel Machta), located above the surface of the pad, remained connected to the rocket, with its nominal retraction usually taking place at L-15 seconds in the countdown.”
Anatoly Zak, Russian Space Web
Russian space reporter Katya Pavlushchenko posted later on the X platform that this launch was “the first time ever when a crewed Soyuz launch was aborted a few minutes before launch. If it happened before, it was a day before launch during the standard checks.”
The launch has been postponed to March 23, at 7:36 AM EDT. Coverage of launch and docking activities will air live on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website.
After an incredibly busy week for spaceflight last week, this week promises to be equally busy. We have two Starlink launches (one from Vandenberg, another from KSC), SpaceX/NASA CRS-30 from SLC-40 sending supplies to ISS, and a Rocket Lab launch from Wallops early on the 21st. Also, a NASA astronaut is heading to ISS aboard a Soyuz on Thursday as well.
NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus, are scheduled to lift off on the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 9:21 AM EDT (6:21 p.m. Baikonur time).
Dyson, Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya will be taking the fast-track to ISS, with a two-orbit, three hour journey with a planned docking at the Russian Prichal module at 12:39 PM EDT.
Tracy C. Dyson will be taking her second long-duration mission to the ISS, with her first being a stint coming from her being a member of the Expedition 23/24 crew from April 2010 to September 2010. She also flew aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor on STS-118 in 2007, and has spent over 188 days in space. She will spend several months aboard ISS as part of Expedition 70/71, with a planned return date of September 24, 2024 aboard Soyuz.
Oleg Novitskiy is a former Lieutenant Colonel in the Russian Air Force, and an old salt when it comes to space travel: he has spent some 588 days in orbit already, as a member of Expedition 33/34, Expedition 50/51 and Expedition 64/65, and will serve as the commander for this flight, Soyuz MS-25. His stay at ISS is planned for twelve days.
Marina Vasilevskaya is not officially designated by Roscosmos as a cosmonaut, but instead as a spaceflight participant. The Belarusian was selected from over 3,000 applicants to be the country’s first woman in space by the Belarus Academy of Sciences. She has been training at Star City with Roscosmos since July of last year in theoretical and practical training for the flight as well as emergency operations and zero gravity conditions. As part of the 21st Visiting Expedition to ISS, she will also spend approximately twelve days aboard the orbiting international outpost.
Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya will return aboard Soyuz MS-24, which has been docked at ISS since September of last year. Dyson will remain aboard ISS, and NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara will return with them, concluding her roughly six month assignment on orbit. The spacecraft has a planned landing zone in Kazakhstan after re-entering Earth’s atmosphere.
Launch coverage will begin at 8:20 a.m. on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website.
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