NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 Mission Launches to International Space Station for 8-Month Scientific Stay

A rocket operated by SpaceX blasted off from Florida early Friday, carrying four astronauts to the International Space Station for an eight-month scientific mission.

The crew includes two American astronauts from NASA, alongside a French and a Russian astronaut, underscoring continued international cooperation aboard the orbiting laboratory.

The two-stage Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at approximately 5:15 a.m. Eastern Time (1015 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Florida’s Atlantic coast. Atop the launcher sat the autonomous Crew Dragon capsule, named “Freedom.”

Live broadcasts from NASA and SpaceX showed the 25-story-tall vehicle ascending from the launch tower as its nine Merlin engines ignited, consuming vast quantities of fuel and lighting up the pre-dawn sky with a fiery plume.

Within nine minutes of liftoff, the Falcon 9’s upper stage accelerated the spacecraft to speeds exceeding 27,000 kilometers per hour, placing the Crew Dragon capsule into orbit. Meanwhile, the rocket’s reusable first-stage booster successfully returned to Earth, landing vertically at Cape Canaveral.

The four-member crew is expected to reach the space station Saturday afternoon following a 34-hour orbital journey.

The mission, designated Crew-12, marks the 12th long-duration astronaut rotation flight conducted by NASA aboard a SpaceX launch vehicle since the private rocket company, founded by billionaire Elon Musk, began transporting U.S. astronauts to orbit in May 2020.

The launch highlights the continued reliance of NASA on commercial partnerships to maintain regular crew rotations to the ISS. Since the retirement of the Space Shuttle program, NASA has increasingly turned to private-sector providers to ensure uninterrupted access to low Earth orbit.

Crew-12 will conduct a range of scientific experiments during its eight-month stay, contributing to research in microgravity that supports future deep-space exploration and advances scientific understanding on Earth.

The mission reflects both technological progress in reusable launch systems and the enduring collaborative framework that defines operations aboard the International Space Station.