SpaceX launches Crew-12 mission to the ISS

A rocket from SpaceX blasted off from Florida early Friday, sending a four-member international crew on an eight-month science mission to the International Space Station.

The two-stage Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 5:15am EST from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, carrying a Crew Dragon capsule named “Freedom.” 

A live webcast showed the 25-story vehicle climbing into the predawn sky as its nine Merlin engines ignited, producing a fiery plume and thick clouds of vapour.

About nine minutes after liftoff, the rocket’s upper stage propelled the spacecraft into orbit at speeds exceeding 17,000 miles per hour. 

The reusable first-stage booster successfully returned to Earth, landing at a designated pad in Cape Canaveral.

The mission, designated Crew-12, includes two NASA astronauts, a European Space Agency astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut. 

The crew is led by veteran astronaut Jessica Meir, joined by rookie NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway, ESA’s Sophie Adenot of France, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.

The spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the ISS roughly 34 hours after launch, at an altitude of about 250 miles above Earth. 

Crew-12 marks the 12th long-duration station team launched by SpaceX for NASA since the company began flying astronauts in 2020, underscoring the continued partnership between the US space agency and the private aerospace firm.