NASA sent astronauts to the ISS: there is a shortage of personnel after the emergency evacuation of the crew 0 10

On Friday, February 13, at 12:15 Kyiv time, a Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida with an attached Crew Dragon spacecraft. The astronauts of the Crew-12 mission aboard the ship have already reached low Earth orbit and are expected to soon be on board the International Space Station (ISS), which is experiencing a personnel shortage, reports Focus citing Space.

Since January 15, after the early return of the Crew-11 mission astronauts to Earth, only 3 astronauts have remained on the ISS, although the optimal crew should consist of seven people. At that time, NASA conducted the first medical evacuation of a crew in the history of the ISS, although it is still unknown what happened and with whom among the astronauts.

Now, NASA has sent four astronauts of the Crew-12 mission into orbit, which will restore the normal crew size of the ISS. The astronauts heading to orbit are NASA's Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Russian astronaut Andrey Fedyaev. This is already the second flight to the ISS for Meir and Fedyaev and the first for Hathaway and Adenot.

The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket separated from the upper stage about 2.5 minutes after launch and successfully returned to Earth. Meanwhile, the upper stage of the Falcon 9 rocket continued its journey to orbit and separated from the Crew Dragon spacecraft after reaching the required altitude.

The Crew-12 astronauts will spend more than 30 hours in orbit chasing the ISS. The docking of the spacecraft with the orbital station is expected to occur around 22:15 Kyiv time on Saturday, February 14. The astronauts will be on the ISS until October.

During their time in space, this quartet will continue research on the effects of microgravity on human physiology and will conduct maintenance on the ISS during two spacewalks.

The launch of the Crew-12 mission was delayed by two days due to strong winds and other adverse weather conditions, as previously reported by Focus. According to NASA's plan, it was supposed to take place on February 15, but the earlier return of the Crew-11 mission changed those plans.