NASA, SpaceX target Wednesday departure for Crew-12 from space station

Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel on Oct 5, 2026

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With nearly eight months in space under their belt, the four members of Crew-12 are set to depart the International Space Station as early as Wednesday.

The quartet of NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station back on Feb. 13 riding up in the SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom.

With the arrival of Crew-13 to the station last week, though, they have shown the new crew around their orbiting home and are ready to make their way back to Earth.

Until then, the station’s population remains at 11, all part of Expedition 75 of the space station, which has been continuously populated since November 2000.

Command of the station switched hands from Meir on Sunday during a ceremony during which she gave the reins to Roscosmos cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov.

“Today we’re gathered here together for what is a bittersweet moment,” Meir said. “For those of us on Crew-12, we will be leaving our friends. We’ll be leaving our temporary home that’s been even a little bit longer than we first planned, but we know that we are going home to our friends, to our families, to all of our team members on the ground.

“So it’s a lot of mixed, swirling emotions for all of us. When one leaves a home like this up on the space station, especially such a spectacular home that offers these extraordinary views of our home planet.”

All 11 crowded together for an embrace during the ceremony.

“This is what we call a space station huggle,” Meir said. “A combination between a hug and a huddle of course. We will miss you guys. We are so excited to see what you will do.”

Meir handed over a symbolic gold key to Dubrov.

“It’s a great honor and great responsibility to be a commander of such a magnificent place,” he said, noting it was the 69th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik 1. “Today is the dawn of the space era for humanity. The International Space Station, it’s the greatest symbol of what we can do if we work together. It’s the greatest symbol of international cooperation. And to be the commander of this crew, I think it’s the best position in the world.”

The earliest undocking could come at 1:05 a.m. EDT Wednesday, which would allow for a splashdown return off the coast of California more than a day later targeting 11:25 a.m. Thursday.

Dragon returns to Earth have not been off Florida’s coast since last year starting with Crew-10 as SpaceX shifted to California recoveries over safety concerns of discarded parts of the spacecraft on reentry making their way on land.

Remaining on the station will be NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Central Florida’s Luke Delaney, who were part of Crew-13, as well as Anil Menon, who flew to the station in July with Russian crewmates on a Soyuz spacecraft.

Also on board are Crew 13’s Joshua Kutryk of the Canadian Space Agency and Roscosmos’ Sergey Teteryatnikov. Menon’s crewmates also remaining on board until next spring are Anna Kikina and Dubrov.

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