Crew-12 Launches as Colleagues Prepare to Explore the Moon

By Bob Granath

NASA is beginning a new era of space exploration as four astronauts were launched to the International Space Station for a long-duration science expedition. At the same time, a quartet of their colleagues are preparing for a mission to the Moon. On Feb. 13, 2026, Crew-12 launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as a Space Launch System rocket is being prepared for the Artemis IImission for humanity’s first trip to the lunar region in more than 50 years.

NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway accompanied by European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot of France and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev of Russia lifted off aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Crew-12 will join Expedition 74 crew members already aboard the space station. NASA astronaut Christopher Williams, along with Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikayev lifted off Nov. 27, 2025 aboard Soyuz MS-28 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

As the Crew-12 astronauts head to low-Earth orbit, agency astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen are preparing to launch aboard an Orion spacecraft on the Artemis II mission to test its systems as they travel 250,000 miles around the Moon.

In a message to the NASA workforce on Feb. 3, 2026, agency Administrator Jared Isaacman referenced the fact that this latest space station crew is scheduled for a longer stay.

“Crew-12 will soon embark on their journey to the station,” he said. “There is much to do to prepare for their nine-month mission. I hope the nine-month duration returns to six months as soon as possible. We want to move in the direction of more astronauts in space at greater frequency.”

The longer duration stay is needed to adjust for the tightened International Space Station schedule, which included an earlier return of the previous crew, to align with the Artemis II launch and space station logistics. The Crew-11 astronauts returned earlier than planned due to a “medical concern” with a crew member.

The latest group of astronauts taking off to the orbiting laboratory represents the 12th crew rotation as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The flight plan calls for Crew-12 to conduct scientific research and technology demonstrations for the benefit of people on Earth. Additionally, investigations aboard the space station will help prepare for missions to work for longer periods on the Moon and, in the future, on Mars.

The Crew

Crew-12 commander Jessica Meir grew up in Caribou, Maine and is making her second flight into space. She was awarded a bachelor’s degree in biology from Brown University, a master’s in space studies from the International Space University and a doctorate in marine biology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego. During research for her doctorate, Meir studied the diving physiology of marine mammals and birds, including emperor penguins in Antarctica and elephant seals in northern California.

In her post‐doctoral research at the University of British Columbia in Canada, Meir analyzed the flight of bar-headed geese. She was selected as an astronaut in 2013 and spent 205 days aboard the International Space Station during Expedition 61 and 62. During the stay, she completed the first all-woman spacewalk with Koch.

In a preflight News Conference on Jan. 30, 2026, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Meir expressed her feelings about the upcoming mission.

“It is a privilege to be commander for this exceptional crew,” she said. “We hope to hit the ground running once we are aboard the International Space Station.”

A native of South Windsor, Connecticut, U.S. Navy Commander Jack Hathaway is pilot on Crew-12. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy where he earned a bachelor’s degree in physics and history in 2004. He became a developmental test pilot in 2010 and flew the F/A-18 at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland. He was selected to attend Empire Test Pilots’ School at Ministry of Defense Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, England, where he earned a master’s in flight dynamics from Cranfield University in 2014.

In 2019, Hathaway was assigned to the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon, where he served as a subject matter expert on tactical datalink policy and acquisition efforts. At the time of his selection as an astronaut in 2021, Hathaway was deployed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman.

At the pre-flight new conference, Hathaway reflected on the possibility of being aboard the space station as his fellow astronauts are traveling to the Moon.

“We’re excited to be a part of it, part of achieving these exploration goals,“ he said. “It’s an exciting time to be a part of NASA and part of this expanding mission as we go to the Moon and beyond.”

Crew-12 will be the first spaceflight for mission specialist Sophie Adenot who is from Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire, Burgundy, France. She studied engineering at the Institute Supérieur de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace and in 2004 was awarded a bachelor’s degree in the flight dynamics of aircraft and spacecraft. That same year, she earned a master’s in human factors engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Adenot became a helicopter cockpit design engineer at Airbus Helicopters and later served as a search and rescue pilot at Cazaux Air Base from 2008 to 2012. A colonel in the French Air and Space Force, she became France’s first female helicopter test pilot in 2018. She was selected as an ESA astronaut in 2022.

Adenot stated that she enjoyed preparing for work aboard the space station and believes that the time was a crucial part of being ready for whatever comes up.

“Training is a long journey and is a mission in itself,” she said. “There are many sets of skills you train for. We also work with a ‘ton’ of people here on the ground who are there to help us.”

Like Adenot, Andrey Fedyaev will be a Crew-12 mission specialist. He was born in Serov, Sverdlovsk, in Russia’s Ural Mountains. In 2004, he was awarded an engineering degree in air transport and air traffic control from the Balashov Military Aviation School.

Fedyaev then joined the Russian Air Force, rising to the rank of major before retiring in 2013. He was selected as a cosmonaut in 2012. He flew to the space station during NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission, spending 186 days in orbit as an Expedition 69 flight engineer.

Having been in space before, Andrey had one recommendation for his “rookie” crewmates.

“I would like to add one thing, guys,” he said. “I would advise you give yourself an opportunity to enjoy your spaceflight. That’s it.”

The Spacecraft

The SpaceX Crew Dragon is an autonomous spacecraft designed to deliver a mix of crew and cargo to low-Earth orbit. The capsule is 27 feet high and 13 feet in diameter. For NASA trips to the International Space Station, the Crew Dragon will carry from four to seven NASA-sponsored crewmembers and return astronauts with about 6,600 pounds of time-critical scientific research experiments and equipment.

The capsule’s trunk is an integral element of the spacecraft, containing solar panels, heat-removal radiators, and fins to provide aerodynamic stability in the unlikely event of an emergency abort.

The Falcon 9 launch vehicle is 229 feet tall and is 12 feet in diameter. The first stage has nine engines generating 1,710,000 pounds of thrust. The second stage has one engine with 210,000 pounds of thrust. Propellant for both stages is RP-1, highly refined kerosene, and liquid oxygen. Like the Crew Dragon spacecraft, the first stage of the rocket is reusable. The Falcon 9 first stage returns to either a landing zone adjacent to its launch pad at Cape Canaveral or a SpaceX drone ship off shore.

The Mission

The nine-month stay of the Crew-12 astronauts provides more time for critical scientific research regarding how the human body adapts to extended time in space, directly supporting future missions to the Moon and Mars.

“We will be doing a multitude of scientific experiments,” Meir said. “As a physiologist, I’m excited for the physiology experiments. We will do experiments ranging from bone and muscle health to studies of our cardiovascular blood flow.”

Since October 2000, astronauts from around the world have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station. Their microgravity investigations have advanced scientific knowledge and made research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. Companies in the United States now are paving the way for development of commercially owned and operated space stations. NASA, along with other customers, could then obtain services as commercial activities taking advantage of the microgravity environment of low-Earth orbit.

In his first message to the NASA workforce, Isaacman looked ahead, noting that NASA plans to conclude operations aboard the space station in 2030. This will allow the agency to focus on exploration of the Moon and Mars.

“We are looking for every opportunity to prioritize the highest-value science (and) streamlining approval for experiments,” he said. “Our objective is to maximize every bit of life remaining on the space station program. (In the future,) we want to unlock an orbital economy that generates demand for multiple future commercial stations, thus necessitating more people living and working in space.”

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Crew-12 Astronauts Head to the Space Station

Check out this short video of the liftoff of NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, along with ESA’s Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos’ Andrey Fedyaev. Crew-12 is planned to be a nine-month mission aboard the International Space Station. Video courtesy of NASA