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Crew-12 was led by Jessica Meir. She is a veteran NASA astronaut and marine biologist. Here's all you need to know about Crew 12 mission
NASA SpaceX Crew 12 launch: SpaceX, on Friday, went ahead with the launch of four fresh crew members to the International Space Station. The mission, designated Crew-12, marks the 12th long-duration ISS team that NASA has flown aboard a SpaceX launch vehicle since the private rocket venture founded in 2002 by Tesla boss Elon Musk began sending US astronauts to orbit in May 2020.
With a crew of two US NASA astronauts, a French astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut –a SpaceX rocket soared into orbit from Florida. The four new members have been sent on a mission to replace four fliers who came home early last month because of a medical issue with one of the crew members.
The two-stage Falcon 9 rocket, topped with an autonomously operated Crew Dragon capsule dubbed "Freedom", was launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, along Florida's Atlantic Coast, at about 5:15 a.m. EST (1015 GMT), reported Reuters.
Who are part of Crew 12 mission?
- Jessica Meir (48) – Commander of Crew-12, Meir is a veteran NASA astronaut and marine biologist. This marks her second trip to the International Space Station (ISS), nearly seven years after she made history alongside Christina Koch by taking part in the world’s first all-female spacewalk.
- Jack Hathaway (43) – A former US Navy fighter pilot, Hathaway is a first-time space traveller, making his debut mission to the ISS as a rookie astronaut.
- Sophie Adenot (43) – Representing the European Space Agency, Adenot is a French master helicopter pilot embarking on her first mission to space.
- Andrey Fedyaev – A Russian cosmonaut and former military pilot, Fedyaev is on his second mission to the International Space Station.
A live NASA–SpaceX webcast captured the 25-storey rocket lifting off from the launch tower as its nine Merlin engines thundered to life.
Burning through roughly 700,000 gallons of fuel per second, the engines sent up thick clouds of vapor and a reddish plume of fire that illuminated the predawn sky.
What's on agenda for the crew?
Upon arrival, the Crew 12 astronauts would dive straight away into a host of scientific, medical and technical research tasks in microgravity, according to NASA.
Those include studies of pneumonia-causing bacteria to improve treatments on Earth, and experiments with plant and nitrogen-fixing microbe interactions to boost food production in space.
Much of the science agenda is aimed at perfecting technologies that NASA hopes to deploy in future astronaut missions to the moon and Mars as part of its fledgling Artemis program, successor to project Apollo a half-century ago.
Crew-12 will be welcomed aboard the space station by three current ISS occupants - NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev.
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