'Quite a ride': SpaceX Crew-12 commander shares first words from orbit

NASA's SpaceX Crew-12 astronauts are finally on their way to replace their predecessors, Crew-11, who were brought back to Earth earlier than planned last month in what was NASA's first medical evacuation from the orbital outpost. During what was almost a month-long shortage, the ISS was manned by a skeleton crew of three—NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev. The Crew-12 quartet, consisting of NASA's Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, the ESA's Sophie Adenot, and Andrey Fedyaev from Roscosmos, will thus restore the ISS to its usual complement of seven crew members post-docking, which is projected to take place at 3:15 pm EST on Saturday. Needless to say, the mission was high-stakes, and the challenges were many. But once the Dragon spacecraft had reached orbit, the people involved didn't shy away from a well-deserved lighthearted moment. 

"It turns out Friday the 13th is a very lucky day," joked SpaceX Launch Control, referring to the date of launch. To this, Meir, who is also the mission commander, responded, "That was quite a ride." The launch had originally been scheduled for Wednesday, February 11, but had to be postponed, first to Thursday and ultimately to today, the infamous Friday the 13th, due to unfavorable weather conditions. The successful launch was also preceded by the grounding of all Falcon 9 flights after the upper stage of one of the rockets failed to perform its deorbit burn after deploying 25 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit on February 2. This prompted an investigation that was overseen by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). However, the mission ultimately remained unaffected, as the FAA cleared the rocket for flight on February 6. 

Speaking about the mission in the post-launch press conference, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman couldn't help but praise how the agency proved that it is more than capable of navigating unprecedented situations. "This mission has shown in many ways what it means to be mission-focused at NASA," he said. "Just to recap, in the last couple of weeks, we've brought Crew-11 home early, we pulled forward Crew-12 to the launch date today, all while simultaneously making preparations for the Artemis II mission—its next window will open up in early March."

Meir had a message of her own to share as the spacecraft began its journey towards the ISS. "We have left the Earth, but the Earth has not left us," she radioed. "When we gaze at our planet from above, it is immediately clear that everything is interconnected. The vast oceans, the continuous landmasses, and all that they can do. We are one humankind here on our home planet. This becomes self-evident as astronauts peer down from above, and it is a sentiment that would serve us all well to remember." Indeed, that is the sentiment that she and her co-passengers are carrying to the ISS, which itself is an emblem of unity and international cooperation. In fact, the science experiments that they are about to conduct are aimed not just at benefiting humankind here on Earth but will also pave the way for future Moon and Mars missions, per NASA.

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