NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 heads into quarantine before launching for International Space Station

According to NASA’s recent update, SpaceX Crew-12 astronauts have begun a strict two-week quarantine at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. This is an indispensable part of their preparations to launch to the International Space Station. The four-person crew—NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedya—entered isolation on Wednesday, January 28, 2026, to prevent any last-minute illnesses that could jeopardize the mission. 

Their Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft are set for liftoff no earlier than 6 am EST on February 11, 2026, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, with backup opportunities on February 12 and 13. Quarantine has been a part of protocol since the Apollo era. It restricts outside contact and requires medical screenings for family and essential staff, making sure crews stay healthy for high-stakes missions. The timing couldn’t be tighter, as it follows the recent return of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11, whose Dragon capsule splashed down safely off California’s coast on January 15, 2026, after 167 days in orbit, covering 71 million miles and completing over 140 science experiments. 

That crew, consisting of NASA’s Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, JAXA’s Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos’ Oleg Platonov, came home early due to an undisclosed medical issue and consequent unprecedented evacuation. NASA announced the change of plans on January 8, 2026, during a briefing led by Administrator Jared Isaacman, who praised the U.S. space program’s flexibility in managing such surprises. Crew-11 undocked from the ISS’s Harmony module in the evening of January 14, leaving Expedition 74 commander cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, Sergey Mikaev, and NASA’s Chris Williams to maintain operations by themselves until Crew-12 arrived. 

Crew-12 is scheduled to travel from Houston to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, February 6. They'll continue to be in quarantine there while carrying out prelaunch operations. Before quarantine, the crew completed an equipment interface test on January 12, 2026, passing with flying colors. This involved suiting up to check for leaks and entering the Dragon spacecraft to familiarize themselves with the spacecraft's sounds and interior. 

Adding on to February’s excitement, the launch period for NASA's Artemis II mission begins on February 6, with its own crew currently in quarantine. It will be the first crewed mission since the Apollo program to send astronauts. This follows the successful uncrewed Artemis I in 2022, with separate agency teams and leaders soon finalizing schedules to juggle both Crew-12 and Artemis II launches with due regard for launch schedules and weather windows.

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