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The International Space Station returned to full strength after the arrival of four new astronauts who are replacing colleagues who left earlier than planned following health concerns, NASA said. SpaceX brought the U.S., French and Russian crew members to the station after a launch from Cape Canaveral, and the spacecraft docked in orbit about a day later.
The new arrivals are Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway of NASA, France’s Sophie Adenot, and Russia’s Andrei Fedyaev, who together are scheduled to stay on the station for about eight to nine months. Meir, a marine biologist, has lived and worked on the station before, and she previously took part in the first all-female spacewalk during a 2019 mission. Fedyaev, a former military pilot, also has prior station experience, while Adenot, a military helicopter pilot, is the second French woman to fly in space. Hathaway is a captain in the U.S. Navy.
According to the report, Adenot spoke as the capsule docked, calling out “Bonjour!” when the spacecraft reached the station. A couple of hours later, the hatches opened and the seven space travelers hugged and exchanged high-fives, with Meir saying, “Let’s get rolling.”
The crew rotation follows an earlier medical evacuation that NASA described as its first in 65 years of human spaceflight. In that incident, one of four astronauts launched by SpaceX last summer suffered what officials described as a serious health issue, prompting a hasty return. NASA said the early departures left just three crew members—one American and two Russians—making it necessary to pause spacewalks and trim research to keep the station operating.
NASA declined to say who the astronaut was who fell ill in orbit on Jan. 7, and it did not explain what happened, citing medical privacy. The ailing astronaut and three others returned to Earth more than a month earlier than planned, spending their first night back at the hospital before returning to Houston.
NASA said it did not alter its preflight medical checks for the astronauts it sent to replace the evacuated crew, despite the earlier medical incident.