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A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule with a unit of 4 glided successful for a Valentine's Day docking at the International Space Station Saturday, boosting the lab's unit backmost to a afloat complement of 7 1 period aft 4 different fliers came location aboriginal due to the fact that of a aesculapian issue.
The Crew Dragon docked astatine the space-facing larboard of the lab's guardant Harmony module astatine 3:15 p.m. Eastern Time, 34 hours aft motorboat Friday from the Kennedy Space Center atop a Falcon 9 rocket.
The Crew 12 fliers cavort aboard the International Space Station soon aft floating wrong connected Feb. 14, 2026. They joined presumption commandant Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, backmost near successful achromatic shirt, NASA astronaut Chis Williams and cosmonaut Sergey Mikaev, some wearing achromatic shirts. The Crew 12 astronauts, from near to right, are cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev (upside down), Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir and French astronaut Sophie Adenot astatine the acold right.
NASA
"Grateful to beryllium connected board, and we're acceptable to get to work," radioed Crew 12 commandant Jessica Meir, making her 2nd long-duration enactment aboard the abstraction station.
Joined by seasoned Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev and 2 abstraction rookies, astronaut Jack Hathaway and European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, the Crew 12 fliers opened the Crew Dragon's hatch and floated into the presumption 2 hours aft docking.
Amid hugs and handshakes, they were welcomed aboard by abstraction presumption commandant Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, Sergey Mikaev and NASA astronaut Chris Williams. Those 3 were launched to the outpost past November aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
"Welcome to Crew 12," Kud-Sverchkov said successful a little ceremony. "We are blessed they each arrived harmless and sound, we've been waiting for this infinitesimal for a precise agelong time. We're truly blessed and arrogant to enactment arsenic a squad here."
Meir replied, "It is truthful fantastic to beryllium backmost up here...You look around, the unit up here, and it's truly a testament to everything we do, we person truthful galore countries represented, truthful galore backgrounds, truthful galore disciplines, we are truthful excited to beryllium here."
A camera wrong the Crew Dragon capsule looks implicit the shoulders of commandant Jessica Meir, left, and Jack Hathaway arsenic they show cockpit displays during last attack to the International Space Station. Feb. 14, 2026.
SpaceX
As for the travel up, Adenot, a seasoned French aerial unit chopper trial pilot, entity diver and SCUBA expert, said SpaceX gave the unit "quite a ride, precise fun!"
"The archetypal clip we looked astatine the Earth was, wow, caput blowing," Adenot said. "The Earth is truthful beauteous from up (here). We spot nary lines, nary borders, it was a precise large infinitesimal for us, for Jack and me, to spot that for the archetypal time."
Meir and her crewmates are replacing Crew 11 commandant Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, whose aboriginal departure past month near the presumption with conscionable 3 occupants: Kud-Sverchkov, Mikaev and Williams.
While the outpost tin beryllium safely operated by a unit of three, a azygous NASA astronaut cannot transportation retired a afloat scope of NASA and spouse bureau probe arsenic good arsenic required maintenance.
In addition, spacewalks, which necessitate 2 astronauts utilizing a buddy system, are ruled out.
The Crew Dragon closes successful connected the International Space Station aft a creaseless rendezvous, bringing 4 caller unit members to the outpost. Feb. 14, 2026.
NASA
NASA managers attempted to determination up Crew 12's motorboat by astir 4 days to arsenic aboriginal arsenic Feb. 11 to shave disconnected immoderate of the clip Williams would beryllium the sole relation of systems successful the U.S. conception of the abstraction station.
But due to the fact that of conflicts with enactment to acceptable NASA's Artemis II satellite mission for launch, on with precocious winds earlier this week on the Crew Dragon's ascent trajectory, Meir and institution ended up launching Friday.
With the summation of Crew 12, probe successful the U.S. conception tin resume its mean gait and spacewalks tin beryllium staged arsenic needed.
"Crew 12 is honored to articulation our Expedition 74 friends and colleagues...to adhd our section to the communicative of the International Space Station," Hathaway radioed.
The rendezvous went disconnected without a hitch. But earlier successful the day, the unit held a backstage aesculapian conference, oregon PMC, and said they mightiness request a follow-on PMC aft docking. They aboriginal confirmed they wanted a post-docking aesculapian conference.
"We're going to spell guardant with that plan, truthful if you could conscionable person the (flight) surgeon acceptable for america aft we get each docked we would admit that," Hathaway radioed. Mission power replied: "We'll beryllium acceptable to support."
Under strictly enforced aesculapian privateness guidelines, NASA does not sermon astronaut wellness issues, and it wasn't known what benignant of contented mightiness person prompted the petition for a post-docking PMC.
About fractional the men and women who alert successful abstraction endure nausea and related symptoms during their archetypal adaptation to weightlessness, but the discomfort typically abates aft a fewer days successful space.
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