NASA announced that as part of its SpaceX Crew-12 mission, four crew members from three countries will launch no earlier than February 15, 2026, to the International Space Station for a long-duration science expedition.
U.S. astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway will serve as spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively, and will be accompanied by European Space Agency's French astronaut Sophie Adenot and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, who will both serve as mission specialists. Crew-12 will join Expedition 74 crew members currently aboard the space station.
The flight is the 12th crew rotation with SpaceX to the orbiting laboratory as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. Crew-12 will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare humans for future exploration missions to the Moon and Mars, as well as benefit people on Earth.
This will be the second flight to the space station for Meir, who was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2013.
A commander in the United States Navy, Hathaway was selected as part of the 2021 astronaut candidate class. This will be Hathaway's first spaceflight.
The Crew-12 mission will be Adenot's first spaceflight, while this will be Fedyaev's second long-duration stay aboard the orbiting laboratory.
In 2023, Fedyaev flew to the space station as a mission specialist during NASA's SpaceX Crew-6 mission, spending 186 days in orbit, as an Expedition 69 flight engineer. For his achievements, Fedyaev was awarded the title Hero of the Russian Federation and received the Yuri Gagarin Medal.
For more than 25 years, people have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and making research breakthroughs that are not possible on Earth.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Business News
December 19, 2025 15:10 ET U.S. inflation data and interest rate decisions by major central banks were the highlights of this busy week for economics news flow. Employment data and survey results on the housing markets also gained attention in the U.S. In Europe, the European Central Bank and Bank of England announced their policy decisions and macroeconomic projections.