Overview
- Dragon Freedom docked with the Harmony module at 3:15 p.m. Eastern on Feb. 14, with hatches opening roughly two hours later, marking the official start of ESA’s εpsilon mission.
- The arriving crew comprises NASA’s Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot of France, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrei/Andrey Fedyaev.
- The Falcon 9 launched from Cape Canaveral at 5:15 a.m. Eastern on Feb. 13 after weather-driven delays and delivered Dragon to the station after about 34 hours in free flight.
- With the station back to seven occupants, NASA plans to resume a normal research cadence on the U.S. segment and restart spacewalks that were paused during the staffing shortfall.
- NASA has not disclosed the affected astronaut or condition from January’s medical incident, and the new crew is slated for an approximately eight‑ to nine‑month stay with multiple experiments and planned spacewalks; SpaceX’s booster also completed a successful landing.