Four new astronauts arrive at the International Space Station to replace NASA’s evacuated crew
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The International Space Station It returned to full strength on Saturday, with four new astronauts arriving to replace colleagues who left early due to health concerns.
SpaceX delivers US, French and Russian astronauts a day later initialization them from Cape Canaveral.
Last month’s medical evacuation It was NASA’s first in 65 years of human spaceflight. One in four astronauts The spacecraft launched by SpaceX last summer suffered from what officials described as a serious health issue, leading to their hasty return. That left only three crew members (one American and two Russians) to keep the space running, prompting NASA to pause spacewalks and curtail exploration.
NASA’s Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, France’s Sophie Adenot, and Russia’s Andrei Fedyaev will move for eight to nine months. Meir, a marine biologist, and Fedyaev, a former military pilot, had lived there before. Meir on his first station visit in 2019 First all-female spacewalk.
Military helicopter pilot Adenot became the second French woman to fly into space. Hathaway is a captain in the US Navy.
“Hello!” Adenot called out as the capsule docked with the space station 277 miles (446 kilometers) above. Meir added: “We are grateful to have you on board and are ready to get to work.”
NASA has refused to identify the astronaut who fell ill in orbit on Jan. 7 or say what happened, citing medical privacy. The sick astronaut and three others returned to Earth more than a month ahead of schedule. They spent their first night on Earth in the hospital before returning to Houston.
The space agency said it did not change its pre-flight medical checks to replace them.
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