Four new astronauts arrive at the International Space Station to replace NASA’s evacuated crew
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The International Space Station returned to full complement with the arrival Saturday of four new astronauts to replace colleagues who opted out earlier due to health concerns.
SpaceX delivered the American, French and Russian astronauts a day after their launch from Cape Canaveral.
Last month’s medical evacuation was NASA’s first in 65 years of human spaceflight. One of four astronauts launched by SpaceX last summer suffered what officials described as a serious health problem, leading to his hasty return. That left just three crew members to keep the place running – one American and two Russians – prompting NASA to suspend spacewalks and scale back research.
Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway from NASA, Sophie Adenot from France and Andrei Fedyaev from Russia will move there for eight to nine months. Meir, a marine biologist, and Fedyaev, a former military pilot, once lived there. During her first visit to the station in 2019, Meir participated in the first all-female spacewalk.
Adenot, a military helicopter pilot, is only the second French woman to fly in space. Hathaway is a captain in the United States Navy.
” Good morning ! Adenot shouted once the capsule docked with the space station 277 miles (446 kilometers) above sea level. Meir added: “Grateful to be on board and we are ready to get to work.”
NASA has refused to disclose the identity of the astronaut who fell ill in orbit on January 7 or to explain what happened, citing medical confidentiality. The ill astronaut and three others returned to Earth more than a month ahead of schedule. They spent their first night on Earth in the hospital before returning to Houston.
The space agency said it did not change its pre-flight medical checks for their replacements.
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