On Friday, April 13, four astronauts set off on an eight-month mission to the International Space Station (ISS), comprising two NASA astronauts, a French astronaut, and a Russian cosmonaut. The crew departed from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 7:15 AM (Brasilia time) in a Crew Dragon capsule named Freedom, launched by a Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX. The astronauts are expected to arrive at the ISS on Saturday afternoon, April 14, following a journey that will take approximately 34 hours.

This mission, designated Crew-12, marks NASA's twelfth long-duration crew dispatched to the ISS aboard a SpaceX vehicle since the agency started utilizing the company's services in May 2020. Leading the Crew-12 mission is Jessica Meir, a 48-year-old veteran astronaut and marine biologist who is making her second trip to the space station. This expedition occurs nearly seven years after she, alongside Christina Koch, made history with the first all-female spacewalk.

The mission highlights NASA's ongoing collaboration with SpaceX to facilitate human spaceflight and scientific exploration, further solidifying the partnership established since 2020. As more crews venture to the ISS, the continuous research conducted aboard is expected to contribute to our understanding of space and its effects on human biology, as well as prepare for future missions to Mars and beyond.