Description
Leaders from NASA, SpaceX, and ESA (European Space Agency) discussed the return of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission from the International Space Station and answered questions from media following the crew’s splashdown off the coast of Los Angeles, California, on Oct. 8. Crew-12 consisted of NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. The quartet conducted a long-duration mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration flights as part of NASA’s Moon and Mars exploration approach, including lunar missions through NASA’s Artemis program. Additionally, the upcoming launch of NASA’s SpaceX 35th commercial resupply services mission to the space station was discussed during the Oct. 8 media teleconference. On the flight, SpaceX will deliver thousands of pounds of science, supplies, and hardware to the orbiting lab and is slated to launch on Tuesday, Oct. 13, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Following launch, the Dragon spacecraft will dock to the zenith port of the Harmony module on Thursday, Oct. 15, and remain at the space station for about a month.