NASA’s Crew-12 launches to ISS

Feb. 13 (UPI) — NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 astronauts lifted off early Friday morning for their ride to the International Space Station.

The crew left Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, Fla., at 5:15 a.m. EST aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and a Falcon 9 rocket. They reached orbit at 6:45 a.m. The crew are NASA astronauts Commander Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.

The craft will take about 34 hours to reach the ISS, where it will autonomously dock with the space station’s Harmony module at 3:15 p.m. Saturday.

The four astronauts, who will raise the ISS population to its usual seven, shared a message of inspiration after reaching orbit.

“We’re reminded that we’re all connected,” Space.com reported that one of the astronauts said. “Take care of one another and keep reaching higher. That’s how human beings soar and how we make each other proud.”

The crew had a unique zero-gravity indicator for the flight, Space.com reported. Meir announced that the crew chose a handmade crocheted model of Earth with four connected satellites representing each of them, including a moon to represent Meir. It was made by Meir’s childhood best friend and the daughter of crew pilot Hathaway.

The launch was delayed from last week due to high winds in the flight path.

Crew-12 is the first group allowed to take smartphones into space.

“We are giving our crews the tools to capture special moments for their families and share inspiring images and video with the world,” Jared Issacman, NASA administrator, said in a post on X.

Crew-11 had to return early on Jan. 15 due to a medical issue with one of the astronauts. It was the first-ever evacuation of a space crew from the ISS.

Live coverage of the Crew-12 broadcast is airing on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel.