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Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully transported an international crew of four astronauts, including two Americans and one Russian, to the International Space Station.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying NASA’s Crew-12 docked aboard the ISS Saturday at 3:15 p.m. EST.
The crew included NASA astronauts Commander Jessica Meir and Pilot Jack Hathaway, Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev and French astronaut Sophie Adenot, who is part of the European Space Agency.
The rocket took off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral space station Friday at 5:15 a.m. It took the crew 34 hours to reach their destination.
“We have bridged the legacy of humankind’s continuous presence in space spanning more than 25 years at this very site,” Meir said after docking at the ISS.
The mission’s purpose is to replace the astronauts who were forced to return to Earth early in January, after a crewmember experienced a medical episode.
This was the first time in 65 years of space flight that NASA ever cut a mission short for health reasons.
The space agency has not disclosed the identity of the ailing astronaut, nor what their medical condition was.
The ISS has functioned with a diminished crew of three people — one American and two Russians– and typically operates with seven astronauts on board, according to Space.com
NASA had put spacewalks on hold as it awaited the new crew members to come on board.
This is Meir and Fedyaev’s second time in space. Meir participated in the first-ever all-female spacewalk in 2019.
“As we look back at Earth from these windows, we are reminded that cooperation is not just possible, it is essential. Up here, there are no borders and hope is universal,” Meir said.
NASA didn’t order any additional medical checkups for the astronauts prior to liftoff, and the crew didn’t transport any additional diagnostic equipment for the space station.
However, with space missions becoming longer and longer — Crew 12 is expected to spend eight months aboard the space station — NASA is seeking upgrades to its medical gear.
“There are a lot of things that are just not practical, and so that’s when you need to bring astronauts home from space,” NASA deputy program manager Dina Contella said earlier this week.
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