SpaceX's Next Astronaut Launch for NASA Set for February 11

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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has authorized SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket to return to flight, clearing the way for the launch of the Crew-12 astronaut mission to the International Space Station on February 11. The Crew-12 mission will send four astronauts - NASA's Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, and Sophie Adenot of the European Space Agency - to the orbiting lab for a roughly nine-month stay.

Why it matters

This launch marks the next step in NASA's ongoing partnership with SpaceX to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The successful return to flight of the Falcon 9 after a recent upper stage issue is crucial for maintaining a consistent crew rotation on the ISS.

The details

The Falcon 9 issue occurred on February 2 during the launch of 25 Starlink satellites, when the rocket's upper stage failed to perform a prescribed deorbit burn, causing the rocket body to crash back to Earth uncontrolled. This was the fourth such incident with a Falcon 9 upper stage in the past 19 months. The FAA oversaw and accepted the findings of SpaceX's investigation, which cited the probable root cause as the Falcon 9 stage 2 engine's failure to ignite prior to the deorbit burn.

• The Crew-12 mission is targeted for launch at 6:01 a.m. EST (1101 GMT) on Wednesday, February 11, 2026.
• The Falcon 9 issue occurred on Monday, February 2, 2026.

What’s next

The Crew-12 mission is scheduled to launch on February 11, 2026, sending four astronauts to the International Space Station for a roughly nine-month stay.