A SpaceX capsule is poised to deliver four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) early Friday, , restoring the orbiting laboratory to its full operational capacity after a month of reduced staffing. The mission, designated Crew-12, is scheduled to lift off no earlier than from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The return to a seven-person crew is critical for maximizing the scientific output of the ISS. NASA, which contracts SpaceX for astronaut transport, had initially aimed for an earlier launch, but unfavorable weather conditions along the rocket’s flight path forced a postponement of two potential launch windows on Wednesday and Thursday.
The ISS has been operating with a minimal crew of three since mid-January, significantly limiting the scope of research and maintenance activities. This situation arose following an unscheduled return to Earth by the Crew-11 mission due to an undisclosed medical issue affecting an unidentified crew member. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman emphasized the agency’s swift and professional response to the situation, stating, “NASA was ready. The team responded quickly and professionally, as did the teams across the agency, working closely with our commercial partners and executed a very safe return.” He added, “What we have is exactly why we train, and this is NASA at its finest.”
Upon the Crew-11 capsule’s splashdown off the coast of California, all four astronauts underwent medical evaluation at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla. The crew – comprising NASA’s Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov – later participated in a press conference. Fincke highlighted the team’s preparedness, noting, “How we handled everything all the way through, from nominal operations to this unforeseen operation, really bodes well for future exploration.”
The Crew-12 mission will carry NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. Unlike typical crew rotations which allow for a handover period between incoming and outgoing teams, Crew-12 will not benefit from this overlap due to the circumstances surrounding Crew-11’s early departure. However, Meir indicated that the Crew-12 astronauts were able to receive briefings from the returning Crew-11 team on the ground.
“We ran into them several times and had a little bit of a debrief so they could pass along some pertinent things,” Meir said during a news conference on .
Prior to Crew-12’s arrival, the ISS was staffed by two Russian cosmonauts, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikayev, and NASA astronaut Chris Williams, who reached the station through a rideshare agreement with Roscosmos. While a three-person crew is functional, NASA has consistently stressed the importance of a larger crew for maximizing the scientific return from the ISS, which operates at an annual cost of approximately $3 billion.
As Meir pointed out, operating with a smaller crew isn’t entirely unprecedented. “The time of my last flight — around six, seven years ago — we did these indirect handovers,” she explained, referring to situations where crew transitions occurred with support from ground teams rather than a direct handover in orbit. “It was more rare to have that direct handover where the other crew stayed on board before you arrived.”
The reduced crew size inevitably limits the amount of research that can be conducted. Isaacman has repeatedly emphasized the need to maximize the remaining operational life of the ISS to facilitate groundbreaking research, which he believes is crucial for the development of commercially viable space stations that will eventually replace the aging laboratory. “I, like a lot of space enthusiasts, dream of the day where we have multiple commercial space stations in low-Earth orbit,” Isaacman stated during a Senate confirmation hearing in December. “But I think in order for that to be a financially viable model, we have to absolutely maximize the remaining life of the International Space Station — get the highest potential science and research to the space.”
During their approximately eight-month stay, the Crew-12 astronauts are scheduled to undertake a diverse range of research projects. These include ultrasound scans to monitor changes in blood vessel circulation, pharmaceutical research focused on bacteria responsible for pneumonia, and a simulated lunar landing exercise designed to assess the effects of rapid gravity changes on the human body and cognitive function.
