NASA Crew-12 mission | SpaceX launches four astronauts to International Space Station

According to NASA, the astronauts will arrive at the space station around 1 am IST on February 15 and return eight months later.

Four astronauts have finally been launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday, February 13, 2026. The members of NASA's Crew-12 mission lifted off atop SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket at 3:46 pm IST from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

According to NASA, the spacecraft will arrive at the station around 1 am IST on February 15 and return eight months later. The mission has been launched after encountering multiple delays due to unfavourable weather.

After the successful liftoff, the Falcon 9 rocket booster made its first landing at Landing Zone 40 at Cape Canaveral, SpaceX's newest recovery site.

The crew consists of NASA's Jessica Meir (commander) and Jack Hathaway (pilot), Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev (specialist) and French native Sophie Adenot (specialist), representing the European Space Agency.

Crew-12 astronauts Sophie Adenot, Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway and Andrey Fedyeav (right to left).

Meir, who has logged a total of 205 days in space, is flying on her second spaceflight mission along with Fedyaev, with 186 days of spaceflight experience from the Crew-6 mission in 2023. Meir and Adenot, on the other hand, are on their debut mission.

The four fliers will join the Expedition 74 crew of three astronauts who are currently managing station operations.

Over the next eight months, they will conduct several experiments that will aid research for future Moon and Mars missions. The experiments will be conducted under NASA's Human research program and include astronauts performing ultrasounds of their blood vessels to study altered circulation, investigating potential treatments for vision and eye changes in microgravity, studying pneumonia-causing bacteria and finding ways to enhance food production in space.

Crew-12 has another key task to complete. According to NASA, they will perform multiple simulated Moon landings before, during, and after the mission under a study called Manual Piloting. This will test their ability to land spacecraft in the lunar south pole and possibly Mars while fighting gravitational disorientation.

"This study will help us examine astronauts’ ability to operate a spacecraft after adapting from one gravity environment to another, and whether training near the end of their spaceflight can help prepare crews for landing," stated Dr. Scott Wood, a neuroscientist at NASA Johnson.

This study debuted during the Crew-11 mission and researchers plan to recruit seven astronauts for short-term private missions lasting up to 30 days and 14 astronauts for long-duration missions lasting at least 106 days.