A little while ago, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Freedom spacecraft blasted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in its Crew-12 or SpaceX Crew-12 mission. After almost exactly ten minutes, it successfully separated from the rocket’s last stage and went en route to carry out its mission. This is the 12th crewed mission of the Crew Dragon spacecraft within the normal rotation of the International Space Station crew.
The four new members of the International Space Station crew, who are added to the Expedition 74 crew, are:
Jessica Ulrika Meir. Born on July 1, 1977, in Caribou, Maine, USA, to an Israeli father and Swedish mother, she started taking an interest in space missions at a very young age by watching Space Shuttle missions, participating in a youth camp at Purdue University, and conducting an experiment for a NASA program while studying at Brown University. In 200,0 she earned a Master’s in Space Studies at the International Space University in Strasbourg, France. In 2009, she earned a Ph.D. in Marine Biology from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. For some years, she conducted various scientific researches, also working for Lockeed Martin on NASA projects. In 2002, she was part of the NEEMO 4 underwater expedition. In 2013, she was chosen as an astronaut candidate. She already served on the International Space Station as part of Expedition 61/62 between September 2019 and February 2020.
Jack Hathaway. Born on May 10, 1982, in South Windsor, Connecticut, USA, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 2000. He earned a bachelor’s degree in physics and history from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis in 2004 and a Master of Science in flight dynamics from Cranfield University in 2014. He qualified as a naval aviator in 2006. Over the years, he has participated in various exercises and attended courses that enabled him to join the Joint Chiefs of Staff (J6) at the Pentagon in 2019. In 2021, he was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA. This is his first space mission.
Sophie Marie Laurence Adenot. Born on July 5, 1982, in Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire, France, she earned a degree in engineering, specializing in aircraft and spacecraft flight dynamics, from ISAE-SUPAERO in Toulouse in 2004. That same year, she completed a Master of Science in human factors engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. She spent a year working as an engineer at Airbus Helicopters. In 2005, she enlisted in the French Air Force, where she became a helicopter pilot. In 2018, she qualified as a helicopter test pilot, and in the following years as a military parachutist, glider pilot, and light aviation pilot. She reached the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 2022, she was selected as an ESA astronaut. This is her first space mission.
Andrey Valerievich Fediaev. Born on February 26, 1981, in Serov, in the then USSR and today in Russia, he graduated as a pilot engineer specializing in Air Transport and Air Traffic Control in the field of Anti-Submarine Aviation at the Balashov Military Aviation School. He enlisted in the Russian Air Force, where he rose to the rank of major before retiring. In 2012, he was selected as a cosmonaut candidate. He already served on the International Space Station as part of Expedition 68/69, and he’s the first Russian to travel on a Crew Dragon spacecraft twice, as he was part of the Crew-6 mission.
Tomorrow, at around 19.15 UTC, the Crew Dragon Freedom will reach the International Space Station and will dock directly with the Harmony module.
