Four new astronauts arrived at the International Space Station Saturday, bringing the lab back up to full capacity after several of their colleagues were forced to leave early last month due to a medical issue.
The U.S., French and Russian astronauts and cosmonaut launched from Cape Canaveral in a SpaceX rocket Friday for the approximately 34-hour journey.
“That was quite the ride,” NASA Commander Jessica Meir said immediately after the launch, according to BBC News. “We have left the Earth, but the Earth has not left us.”
The launch had previously been delayed twice due to weather concerns.
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Joining Meir for the next eight to nine months on the Space Station are NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway, France’s Sophie Adenot and Russia’s Andrei Fedyaev.
Meir, a marine biologist, and Fedyaev, a former military pilot, have both been to the ISS previously. Meir was also part of the first all-female spacewalk in 2019.
Adenot is a military helicopter pilot, and Hathaway is a captain in the U.S. Navy.
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Adenot is only the second French woman in space.
“The spacecraft will take about 34 hours to autonomously dock with the space station’s Harmony module at 3:15 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14, while traveling 17,000 mph in Earth orbit,” NASA said after Friday’s launch.
“What an absolutely wonderful start to the day,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said following the launch. “This mission has shown in many ways what it means to be mission-focused at NASA.”
“In the last couple of weeks, we brought Crew-11 home early, we pulled forward Crew-12 to the launch date today, all while simultaneously making preparations for the Artemis 2 mission, which its next window will open up in early March,” he added.
“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,” according to NASA.
NASA said the capsule’s hatch opened at 4:14 p.m. CT after it docked at the space station.
“We are so excited to be here and get to work,” Meir said after the crew arrived on Saturday.
Adenot added, “The first time we looked at the Earth was mindblowing. … We saw no lines, no borders.”
Before Saturday’s crew arrived, just one American and two Russians remained at the space station, keeping it running.
January’s medical evacuation was the first in 65 years after NASA said a crew member experienced a serious health issue. The space agency has not revealed the nature of the medical condition or the name of the astronaut, citing medical privacy.
The astronaut with the medical emergency and the three other crew members who had launched with them returned to Earth more than a month early after the decision was made to bring them home.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.