IT·Science News
Crew-12 launches to a short-staffed space station a month after the first medical evacuation
Four astronauts launched to the International Space Station on Friday 13 February, a month after the station’s first-ever medical evacuation left it short-staffed, NBC News reports. The SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 5:15am ET (1015 GMT) after two days of delays caused by high winds along the flight path. NASA’s Jessica Meir commands Crew-12, with NASA’s Jack Hathaway as pilot, the European Space Agency’s Sophie Adenot and Russia’s Andrey Fedyaev.
Space.com says the Crew Dragon “Freedom” needs about 32 hours to catch up with the station, docking at the Harmony module around 3:15pm EST on Saturday 14 February. The crew is expected to stay through October, longer than the usual six-month rotation, and two spacewalks postponed after the Crew-11 medical situation are back on the plan. Until they arrive, only three people are aboard: NASA’s Chris Williams and two Russian cosmonauts.
“We have left the Earth, but the Earth has not left us.” — Jessica Meir, via Space.com
How each outlet framed it
- NBC News — the science: experiments on growing food in space, blood flow in microgravity and pneumonia-causing bacteria, which NASA links to future Moon and Mars missions.
- Space.com — the operations: docking times, the extended stay and the spacewalks put off in January.
- Euronews — the European story: Adenot is only the second French woman to fly to space, and Claudie Haignère, who flew to Mir in 1996 and inspired her, watched the launch.
Where the numbers differ: NBC News and Space.com put the stay at about eight months; Euronews says eight to nine months, running into autumn.