By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-10-06 16:16:56 | Updated at 2026-10-06 19:27:59
3 hours ago
Another crew of astronauts is rotating home after a nearly eight-month deployment to the final frontier.
NASA SpaceX Crew-12—NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev—are scheduled to depart the International Space Station and begin their journey back to Earth just after 8 a.m. ET on Oct. 7.
Splashdown off the coast of California is slated for just after 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 8, weather permitting.
Meir, Hathaway, Adenot, and Fedyaev will take their leave from the orbital outpost after months that included intense scientific research to improve life in space and on Earth, several spacewalks necessary to maintain and update the station’s systems, and an historic ship-to-ship call with their fellow astronauts on the Artemis II mission.
Their replacements, NASA SpaceX Crew-13, arrived on the afternoon of Oct. 1, and they spent the following few days in a handover period to get up to speed on onboard equipment, ongoing work, and safety procedures.
“We are so excited for the continuation of Expedition 75 to see all the incredible things that they will do,” Meir said in a farewell address.
“They’re going to have a very, very busy mission, lots of science, lots of spacewalks, lots of space station upgrades and maintenance. So we’re so excited to see what they will pull off.”
Meir served as both the Crew-12 commander and commander of the station’s 75th ongoing liveaboard “Expedition” mission (Expedition 75). She handed over command of the space station to cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov on Oct. 4, passing a ceremonial “key to the space station.”
“I’m so excited to be handing over command to Pyotr Dubrov. He is an incredibly experienced cosmonaut,” she said.
“He’s already someone that we go to for questions and advice and to seek out mentorship from. So I know that he’s going to do an outstanding job as a commander.”
Dubrov thanked Meir and noted that he was taking command on the 69th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik 1, the world’s first artificial satellite.
“Today is the dawn of the space age of humanity, and the International Space Station,” he said.
“It’s the greatest symbol of what we can do if we work together. It’s the greatest symbol of international cooperation, and to be the commander of this crew, I think it’s the best position in the world.”
Lots of Science and Spacewalks
Meir is coming home with the third-most spacewalks of any female NASA astronaut. She completed four on this mission, bringing her total to seven—including the first-ever all-female spacewalk. She stands behind Suni Williams’s nine spacewalks and Peggy Whitson’s 10.
Adenot also conducted three spacewalks this mission.
During their stay, Crew-12 sought to learn more about how microgravity affects bone cells and bone density. They studied the benefits that microgravity brings to engineering cartilage tissue intended for use as medical transplants; pharmaceuticals, particularly in the development of cancer treatments; and growing stem cells.
The crew also worked to advance life aboard the space station and spaceflight in general. This work included using new ultrasound machines, installing a metal 3-D printer capable of producing replacement parts, and attempting to produce intravenous (IV) fluids onboard. That fluid will come home with the crew for testing.
Crew-13, which features NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and Roscosmos Cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov, will remain onboard the space station for at least six months as part of the ongoing Expedition 75 mission.
Along with their own suite of science and spacewalks, they will take delivery of three cargo spacecraft, beginning with a SpaceX Cargo Dragon, scheduled to launch next week.
Looking Beyond Crew-13
As Crew-12 returns home, NASA has purchased enough flights from SpaceX to support commercial crew missions through Crew-17.
Just before they launched, NASA announced the three astronauts and one cosmonaut selected for the Crew-14 mission, set to launch in the Spring of 2027. In a Crew-13 pre-launch press conference, it was revealed that the Crew-15 crew was already training for their mission.
The International Space Station is due to be decommissioned in 2030 via controlled re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. That re-entry will be handled by a variant of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
Dana Weigel, manager of NASA’s Low Earth Orbit Program, told reporters on Sept. 30 that NASA expects to take delivery of that deorbiting vehicle in the second half of 2028, and then launch it to the space station in mid-2029.
In the meantime, though, NASA looks to end its total reliance on SpaceX for crew transportation to Low Earth Orbit by returning Boeing’s Starliner capsule to space as soon as December, with a crewed mission slated for 2028.
