A SpaceX capsule will soon ferry four astronauts to the International Space Station, bring the orbiting laboratory back to full staff after a month of operating with a skeleton crew.The mission, called Crew-12, will lift off no earlier than 5:15 a.m. ET Friday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.NASA, which contracts SpaceX for the astronauts’ transport to and from the space station, had sought to expedite the Crew-12 launch due to the staffing situation. But the agency had to forgo two possible launch windows on Wednesday and Thursday because of unfavorable weather along the rocket’s flight path.A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft on top is seen on the launch pad on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. – Aubrey Gemignani/NASAThe International Space Station has been operating with three people on board — well below the seven-person staff the space agency desires — since mid-January.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe new launch comes after a previous SpaceX staffing mission, Crew-11, was forced to make an early return to Earth because of an undisclosed medical issue by an unidentified member.“NASA was ready. The team responded quickly and professionally, as did the teams across the agency, working closely with our commercial partners and executed a very safe return,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said during a news conference in January, adding that the astronaut was in stable condition. “This is exactly why we train, and this is NASA at its finest.”Upon Crew-11’s splashdown return off the coast of California, all four astronauts went to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla. The crew — whic …
