CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) 鈥� A new crew rocketed toward the on Friday to replace the astronauts who returned to Earth early in .
SpaceX launched the replacements as soon as possible at NASA鈥檚 request, sending the U.S., French and Russian astronauts on an expected eight- to nine-month mission stretching until fall. The four should arrive at the orbiting lab Saturday, filling the vacancies left by their last month and bringing the space station back to full staff.
鈥淚t turns out Friday the 13th is a very lucky day,鈥� SpaceX Launch Control radioed once the astronauts reached orbit. 鈥淭hat was quite a ride,鈥� replied the crew’s commander, Jessica Meir.
NASA had to put spacewalks on hold and deferred other duties while awaiting the arrival of Americans Meir and Jack Hathaway, France鈥檚 Sophie Adenot and Russia鈥檚 Andrei Fedyaev. They’ll join three other astronauts 鈥� one American and two Russians 鈥� who kept the space station running the past month.
Satisfied with already in place, NASA ordered no extra checkups for the crew ahead of liftoff and no new diagnostic equipment was packed. An ultrasound machine already up there for research went into overdrive Jan. 7 when used on the ailing crew member. NASA has not revealed the ill astronaut鈥檚 identity or health issue. All four returning astronauts went straight to the hospital after splashing down in the Pacific near San Diego.
It was the first time in 65 years of human spaceflight that NASA cut short a mission for medical reasons.
With missions becoming longer, NASA is constantly looking at upgrades to the space station鈥檚 medical gear, said deputy program manager Dina Contella. 鈥淏ut there are a lot of things that are just not practical and so that鈥檚 when you need to bring astronauts home from space,鈥� she said earlier this week.
In preparation for moon and Mars trips where health care will be even more challenging, the new arrivals will test a filter designed to turn drinking water into emergency IV fluid, try out an ultrasound system that relies on artificial intelligence and augmented reality instead of experts on the ground, and perform ultrasound scans on their jugular veins in a blood clot study.
They also will demonstrate their moon-landing skills in a simulated test drawing extra attention because of the impending launch of four astronauts to the moon on Artemis II, humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than half a century.
Adenot is only the second French woman to launch to space. She was 14 when Claudie Haignere flew to Russia鈥檚 space station Mir in 1996, inspiring her to become an astronaut. Haignere cheered her on from the Florida launch site, wishing her 鈥淏on vol,” French for 鈥淗ave a good flight,” and 鈥淎d astra,” Latin for 鈥淭o the stars.鈥�
Hathaway, like Adenot, is new to space, while Meir and Fedyaev are making their second station trip. On her first mission in 2019, Meir took part in the first all-female spacewalk. The other half of that spacewalk, Christina Koch, is among the four Artemis II astronauts waiting as early as March. A ship-to-ship radio linkup is planned between the two crews.
Meir wasn鈥檛 sure astronauts would return to the moon during her career. 鈥淣ow we鈥檙e right here on the precipice of the Artemis II mission,鈥� she said ahead of liftoff. 鈥淭he fact that they will be in space at the same time as us 鈥� it鈥檚 so cool to be an astronaut now, it鈥檚 so exciting.鈥�
SpaceX launched the latest crew from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Elon Musk鈥檚 company is preparing its neighboring Kennedy Space Center launch pad for the supersized Starships, which NASA needs to land astronauts on the moon.
NASA鈥檚 new administrator Jared Isaacman said following Friday’s liftoff that testing continues at the Artemis pad, where the Space Launch System moon rocket awaits liftoff. A practice fueling last week unleashed hydrogen fuel leaks. Two seals have since been replaced and a mini fueling conducted.
Isaacman stressed that no launch date will be set until additional fueling tests 鈥� potentially a series of them 鈥� are completed. The earliest that Artemis II could launch is March 3, he noted.
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