SpaceX Launches New Crew to Space Station After Medical Evacuation
SpaceX and NASA launched a new crew to the International Space Station on Friday morning after a medical emergency impacted the outgoing mission.
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev were supposed to overlap in space as the previous crew left the station.
But the outgoing crew ended up returning to Earth early after a medical issue.
It’s unclear which astronaut experienced the issue, or what the issue was, according to a report from NBC News.
A great morning for human spaceflight.
Congratulations to the teams at NASA, SpaceX, and our international partners who worked tirelessly to launch Crew 12 safely on a journey to the International Space Station. If this is what is possible today, imagine what tomorrow will… pic.twitter.com/9PFjeLHj1N
— NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman (@NASAAdmin) February 13, 2026
There have only been three astronauts aboard the International Space Station since Jan. 14 — Chris Williams of NASA, as well as two Russian cosmonauts.
With the arrival of the four new astronauts, the crew on the station will be back up to its typical seven-member team.
The four arrivals started their space voyage at 5:15 a.m. Eastern time on Friday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
But medical issues were not the only factor impacting the International Space Station and its operations.
The launch of the new arrivals was pushed back two days by high winds.
NASA tries to avoid emergencies on ascent, which would require the Dragon capsule — which carries crew members atop the Falcon 9 rocket — to disconnect from the vessel and land off the East Coast.
NASA was also concerned by a recent Falcon 9 incident on Feb. 2, which involved an unmanned voyage deploying a batch of Starlink satellites.
Of the four astronauts aboard the vessel headed for the International Space Station, two have been to space previously, and two have not, according to a report from NPR.
Meir and Fedyaev have each been there twice. Hathaway and Adenot have never been to space before.
Meir was part of the first all-female spacewalk in 2019, spending more than seven hours outside of the station alongside fellow NASA astronaut Christina Koch.
They replaced a broken battery charger.
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