In a pre-dawn spectacle on Friday, February 13, 2026, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket carried a four-member international team to the International Space Station (ISS) from Florida's Cape Canaveral. The Crew-12 mission represents NASA's 12th long-duration ISS team transported by SpaceX since 2020, underscoring the growing role of private-sector partnerships in space exploration.
A Global Team in Orbit
The crew includes NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot of France, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. Meir, mission commander, made history in 2020 through the first all-female spacewalk and now returns to lead groundbreaking research. "Thank you team, that was quite a ride," she radioed to SpaceX control after reaching orbit.
Scientific Ambitions in Microgravity
During their 34-hour flight to the ISS, the team prepared for eight months of experiments ranging from pneumonia treatment advancements to sustainable food production techniques for deep-space travel. Their work could yield breakthroughs for both terrestrial medicine and future lunar or Martian colonies.
The crew will join three current ISS occupants upon arrival, continuing the station's uninterrupted human presence since 2000. This launch follows January's unprecedented medical evacuation of Crew-11 members, highlighting the challenges of maintaining continuous operations in low-Earth orbit.
With NASA committed to ISS operations through 2030, missions like Crew-12 demonstrate how international collaboration and commercial spaceflight are reshaping humanity's off-world future.
