NASA Accelerates SpaceX Crew-12 Launch to ISS Following Crew-11 Medical Evacuation

NASA has mandated an accelerated launch schedule for the SpaceX Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station (ISS), a direct operational response to the medical evacuation of the Crew-11 contingent on January 14, 2026. This swift adjustment prioritizes restoring the ISS crew complement, which had been reduced to three members following the early departure. The four astronauts slated for Crew-12 began their mandatory quarantine on Wednesday, January 28, 2026, at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, adhering to preflight illness transmission protocols rooted in the Apollo era.

The revised timeline is enabled by the early readiness of the launch vehicle stack, which includes a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and the Crew Dragon spacecraft named 'Grace.' The earliest launch opportunity is now set for 6:00 a.m. EST on Wednesday, February 11, 2026, launching from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Backup windows are established for Thursday, February 12, at 5:38 a.m. EST, and Friday, February 13, at 5:15 a.m. EST, providing necessary operational flexibility. This new date is significantly earlier than the initial projection of February 15, reflecting the urgency to relieve the reduced station crew.

Crew-12 marks the twelfth operational flight under NASA's Commercial Crew Program and the twentieth crewed orbital flight for the Crew Dragon vehicle. The international crew includes NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, designated as mission commander, and Jack Hathaway, the pilot. They are joined by European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, both serving as mission specialists. The crew is scheduled to join Expedition 74 for a planned duration of approximately nine months, a commitment noted as longer than a standard rotation.

This mission carries specific milestones: Andrey Fedyaev is set to become the first cosmonaut to complete two missions aboard a SpaceX spacecraft, while this represents the inaugural flight for both Hathaway and Adenot. ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot's tenure is tied to her 'Epsilon' (ε) sub-mission, which involves contributing to over 200 experiments, including seven prepared by the CNES CADMOS center. The acceleration of Crew-12 underscores the inherent contingency planning within long-duration spaceflight, demonstrating the rapid mobilization capacity of NASA and SpaceX following the unforeseen Crew-11 issue, which led to their return on January 15.

Prior to entering quarantine on January 28, the Crew-12 team finalized critical preflight preparations, including the crew equipment interface test conducted on January 12. This exercise confirmed suit functionality, familiarization with the Crew Dragon 'Grace' interior, seat fittings, and monitoring of operational sounds. This procedural adherence, juxtaposed with the urgent launch requirement, illustrates a high level of mission readiness across the international partnership, occurring concurrently with NASA's preparations for the Artemis II lunar mission, currently targeted for launch no earlier than February 6, 2026.