Four astronauts are set to travel to the International Space Station as part of a NASA-SpaceX mission.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Four astronauts prepared Thursday for an early morning launch to the International Space Station as weather forecasters improved their outlook for liftoff.
NASA’s Crew-12 mission is scheduled to launch at 5:15 a.m. EST Friday from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket.
Weather officials now predict a 90% chance of acceptable conditions at launch time, up from earlier forecasts. Mission managers remain concerned about elevated wind speeds along the spacecraft’s flight path and planned to reassess conditions around 10 p.m. Thursday, a few hours before the crew suits up.
After detailed weather briefings Thursday morning, forecasters and mission managers decided to proceed with the countdown.
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, the mission commander, and Jack Hathaway, pilot, will fly alongside European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. The crew will spend eight months aboard the space station conducting experiments.
Their arrival will restore the orbiting laboratory to its full complement of seven crew members following the return of Crew-11 in January.
The mission marks SpaceX’s 12th crew rotation flight to the space station and its 13th crewed mission under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
NASA’s live launch coverage begins at 3:15 a.m. Friday on NASA+, Amazon Prime and the agency’s YouTube channel. Launch blog coverage starts at 1:15 a.m.
If the mission launches as scheduled, Crew-12 will dock with the space station at approximately 3:15 p.m. Saturday. Live coverage of the arrival begins at 1:15 p.m. on NASA’s streaming platforms.