A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule with a crew of four glided in for a Valentine’s Day docking at the International Space Station Saturday, boosting the lab’s crew back to a full complement of seven one month after four other fliers came home early because of a medical issue.The Crew Dragon docked at the space-facing port of the lab’s forward Harmony module at 3:15 p.m. Eastern Time, 34 hours after launch Friday from the Kennedy Space Center atop a Falcon 9 rocket.The Crew 12 fliers cavort aboard the International Space Station shortly after floating inside on Feb. 14, 2026. They joined station commander Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, back left in black shirt, NASA astronaut Chis Williams and cosmonaut Sergey Mikaev, both wearing black shirts. The Crew 12 astronauts, from left to right, are cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev (upside down), Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir and French astronaut Sophie Adenot at the far right. / Credit: NASA”Grateful to be on board, and we’re ready to get to work,” radioed Crew 12 commander Jessica Meir, making her second long-duration stay aboard the space station.AdvertisementAdvertisementJoined by veteran Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev and two space rookies, astronaut Jack Hathaway and European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, the Crew 12 fliers opened the Crew Dragon’s hatch and floated into the station two hours after docking.Amid hugs and handshakes, they were welcomed aboard by space station commander Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, Sergey Mikaev and NASA astronaut Chris Williams. Those three were launched to the outpost last November aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.”Welcome to Crew 12,” Kud-Sverchkov said in a brief ceremony. “We are happy they all arrived safe and sound, we’ve been waiting for this moment for a very long time. We’re really happy and proud to work as a team here.”Meir replied, “It is so wonderful to be back up here…You look a …
