Video: watson/Elena Maria Müller
Feb 15, 2026, 10:31 p.mFeb 15, 2026, 10:31 p.m
Crew 12, which launched on Friday with the SpaceX crew Dragon, arrived safely on the international space station ISS and somersaulted off into Expedition 74.
The journey from Earth to the station took around 34 hours. The team was led by Jessica Meir, an astronaut and marine biologist. It was the second time she flew to the space station. Almost seven years ago, she and her NASA colleague Christina Koch made history when they completed the first all-women spacewalk.
In 2019, the two NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir spent around seven hours outside the ISS.Image: NASA
The international crew 12 also includes the American Jack Hathaway, the cosmonaut Andrei Fedjayev (on his second ISS mission) and the French Sophie Adenot, an astronaut for the European Space Agency ESA. She experienced the journey to the ISS as strenuous but fun, as she said in a short statement. The team has now lived and researched together on the international space station for around eight months.
The US space agency NASA had to bring the previous crew, Crew 11, back from the ISS early due to a medical emergency involving a crew member. This was the only return operation in the 65-year history of manned space travel. The crew landed on Earth in mid-January.
2030 should the ISS shut down bringing an era of global space cooperation to an end. Below you can see where the ISS is currently above Earth.
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