SpaceX Crew-12 launch latest news: NASA’s next astronaut crew ready for Feb. 13 liftoff

SpaceX reports that the first stage of the Crew-12 Falcon 9 rocket has been fueled with its RP-1 rocket-grade kerosene fuel for today’s launch.

Fueling is continuing in what SpaceX calls a “late load” approach to fuel the rocket in the final minutes before a planned liftoff. Stage 2 liquid oxygen loading is now underway

The Dragon Freedom capsule is one of five crewed Dragon capsules SpaceX uses for trips to and from the International Space Station.

“We’re tracking no holds against launch today,” flight controllers radioed to Dragon astronauts.

“Dragon copies, great news,” Crew-12 commander Jessica Meir said.

Tariq Malik

Mission teams have confirmed that Crew-12’s Falcon 9 rocket is ready for fueling, and will soon begin loading liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene into the vehicle’s two stages.

The hatch has been closed on the Crew-12 astronauts’ SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, named “Freedom.” That’s another big milestone on the road to launch, which is now a little over an hour away at 5:15 a.m. EST (1015 GMT).

NASA’s webcast for the launch of SpaceX’s four-person Crew-12 mission has begun. The livestream started at 3:15 a.m. EST (0815 GMT), two hours before a Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch Crew-12 toward the International Space Station from Florida’s Space Coast. You can watch the action here at Space.com or via NASA.

The four astronauts of SpaceX‘s Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station have arrived at the launch pad. NASA announced the quartet’s arrival at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 in an update today (Feb. 13) at 2:17 a.m. EST (0717 GMT). Everything is still on track for Crew-12 to lift off today at 5:15 a.m. EST (1015 GMT).

If you’re hoping to watch SpaceX’s Crew-12 astronaut launch to the International Space Station, you’re in luck. You’ll have a wide variety of ways to tune in, including by watching the launch live in the video feed at the top of this page.

Our Spaceflight Editor Mike Wall has the full guide here:

Watch SpaceX launch Crew-12 astronaut mission to the International Space Station early on Feb. 13

NASA’s Crew-12 launch webcast will begin at 3:15 a.m. EST (0815 GMT) on Friday, Feb. 13, with the launch itself scheduled for 5:15 a.m. EST (1015 GMT).

While you can watch it on Space.com and via our YouTube channel, you can also watch it directly from NASA, which will stream the launch live on NASA+, YouTube and Amazon Prime, as well as its social media channels.

The launch should cover SpaceX’s actual Falcon 9 rocket liftoff, its’ first stage booster landing and the Dragon capsule separation from its Falcon 9 upper stage.

NASA will provide a different webcast on Saturday, Feb. 14, for docking at the International Space Station as needed.

This will be our last update of today, Thursday. We’ll see you early Friday for the launch!

Tariq Malik

The weather is looking good for Friday’s planned Crew-12 astronaut launch to the International Space Station.

NASA and SpaceX report a pristine 90% chance of good conditions for the weather at Crew-12’s planned launch time of 5:15 a.m. EST (1015 GMT) on Feb. 13.

“After detailed weather briefings Thursday morning, forecasters and mission managers opted to continue into the Crew-12 launch countdown,” NASA wrote in an update today. “They will again review the forecast around 10 p.m. Thursday, a few hours before the crew suits up.”

SpaceX will continue to monitor weather for both the launch itself and the conditions downrange for the fligth and Falcon 9 booster’s return to its landing site. The company is keeping a particularly close eye on the potential for unacceptably high wind speeds.

Meanwhile, the Falcon 9 rocket that will carry teh Crew-12 astronauts is in place atop its Cape Canaveral Space Force launch pad.

Here’s a report from Space.com’s Josh Dinner on the mission status so far.

Tariq Malik

Hey, Space Fans! Welcome to our coverage of NASA’s Crew-12 astronaut launch to the International Space Station.

As I write this, we are less than 24 hours away from what will be two-day trip for NASA and SpaceX’s Crew-12 mission to the ISS. Yesterday, mission managers for SpaceX and NASA completed a Launch Readiness Review, at the end of which they cleared the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft for launch.

Liftoff of Crew-12 is scheduled for 5:15 a.m. EST (1015 GMT), weather permitting. It will launch from SpaceX’s pad at Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, as the company no longer plans to use NASA’s own Pad 39A for Dragon crew launches.

The Crew-12 astronaut team is commanded by astronaut Jessica Meir, with Jack Hathaway serving as pilot. Both are NASA astronauts. Rounding out the crew are European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot of France and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedaev. They will fly an 8-month mission to the ISS.

Crew-12 is a replacement crew for Crew-11, a team of four astronauts who returned to Earth earier than planned last month in what was the first-ever medical evacuation of the space station. Meir and her Crew-12 crewmates were originally scheduled to launch sometime in March, but NASA and SpaceX moved the flight up after the early return of Crew-11.

Space.com’s Josh Dinner is on the scene for the relief crew’s launch and will br providing updates over the next day that I’ll share directly with you here.

You’ll also be able to watch the launch live on this page early Friday, courtesy of NASA TV, with our livestream beginning at 3:15 a.m. EST (0815 GMT).

Tariq Malik