Crew-12, consisting of NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, is set to return to Earth after nearly eight months aboard the International Space Station (ISS). They launched on February 13 atop the SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom.
With Crew-13’s arrival last week, the current station population is now 11 members. On Sunday, command of the ISS transitioned from Meir to Roscosmos cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov during a ceremony marked by mixed emotions. Meir expressed her bittersweet feelings about leaving the station and her team, capturing the sentiment with a “space station huggle” before handing over a symbolic gold key to Dubrov.
The earliest undocking of Crew-12 is scheduled for 1:05 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, with a targeted splashdown off the California coast planned for 11:25 a.m. on Thursday. The change to California recoveries is due to safety concerns regarding reentry debris.
Remaining on the ISS are NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney from Crew-13, along with Anil Menon and other Crew-13 members, extending their stay until next spring.
