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NASA and SpaceX are targeting early Friday morning for launch.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 Mission to the International Space Station (Official NASA Trailer)
NASA is just hours away from its first crewed launch of 2026, and its first since Crew-11 flew to orbit in August last year.
Just ahead of Crew-12’s liftoff, the space agency has released a short trailer (above) for the mission, which will send four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). The crew will travel aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule carried to orbit by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, are expected to blast off from from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral in Florida at 5:15 a.m. ET on Friday, February 13. If you’re interested in watching a livestream of the event, Digital Trends has all the information you need.
The mission team had been hoping to launch early on Wednesday, but poor weather conditions in the ascent corridor prompted it to push the launch to Thursday. But then another forecast pushed it to Friday. Thankfully, everything is looking good for the launch in just a few hours from now.
“Weather forecasters issued an improved outlook for the launch site conditions, with a 90% chance of acceptable weather at launch time,” NASA said in a post on its website. The team will assess a final forecast at around 10 p.m. ET, a few hours before the crew suits up. Be sure to check NASA’s X account for any last-minute changes to the schedule.
The crew will spend eight months aboard the orbital outpost performing research, technology demonstrations, and maintenance activities, some 250 miles above Earth.
“We do research on the International Space Station because it provides a very unique and novel environment that we cannot replicate here on Earth,” Jessica Meir, on her second mission to the ISS, says in NASA’s trailer. “We’ll be doing a wealth of scientific experiments, ranging from physiology and medical experiments to radiation material science experiments, deploying small satellites, you name it. Really, every aspect of science is represented in the work that we do on the International Space Station.”
Jack Hathaway adds that it’s “important to push the boundaries of what’s possible — if we’re just satisfied with what we have, we’re never going to create the technology to make our lives better.”
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Space Coast to light up tonight with ULA’s Vulcan blastoff — how to watch
It’s the rocket’s first launch since August last year.
As SpaceX and NASA gear up for the Crew-12 launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida early on Friday morning, its colleagues at United Launch Alliance (ULA) are just hours away from sending the Vulcan Centaur rocket skyward on only its fourth flight.
A two-hour launch window opens at 3:30 a.m. ET (12:30 a.m. PT) on Thursday, February 12, at Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex-41.
SpaceX’s mighty Starship rocket enters final testing for 12th flight
The team is eyeing March for launch of the most powerful rocket ever built.
SpaceX is edging toward the 12th launch of its Starship rocket, which this time will see a new version of the massive vehicle head skyward.
The launch team has just completed a crucial test of the Starship’s first stage — the Super Heavy — at its Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas.
SpaceX sets new date for Crew-12 launch to ISS — here’s how to watch
Despite the delays, the mission to the space station should still get away this week.
SpaceX and NASA recently delayed the launch of the next crewed flight to the International Space Station (ISS) due to unfavorable weather conditions in the ascent corridor. After pushing it from Wednesday to Thursday, they’ve now pushed it again, to Friday, due to ongoing weather concerns.
Read on for full details on how to watch NASA’s Crew-12 launch — the first astronaut launch since Crew-11 flew to the ISS in August last year.
