NASA director discusses today's launch to the International Space Station after medical evacuation

Описание: (13 Feb 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

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NASA - MUST CREDIT NASA
Cape Canaveral, Florida - 13 February 2026
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Jared Isaacman, NASA Administrator:
"What a absolutely wonderful start to the day. We saw a remarkable Crew 12 launch, a very impressive F9 return to launch site. I'm sure everybody heard that. All while Artemis II sits on the pad in preparation for its, its historic mission."
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2. SOUNDBITE (English) Jared Isaacman, NASA Administrator:
"I've said it before. I'll say it again that this mission has shown in many ways what it means to be mission-focused at NASA. So just to recap, in the last couple of weeks, we brought, Crew 11 home early. We pulled forward Crew 12 to the launch date today, all while simultaneously making preparations for the Artemis II mission, which, its next window will open up in in early March."
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3. SOUNDBITE (English) Jared Isaacman, NASA Administrator:
"In addition, this mission, maintains over, our over 25 years of continuous human presence in low-Earth orbit. So the, the crew, along with the subsequent ones to follow, will absolutely make the most of our, our International Space Station. We are going to get our highest potential science and research up there with the aim of cracking the code and igniting an orbital economy so someday we do live in a world with lots of commercially operated space stations in line with our president's national space policy."
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STORYLINE:
A new crew rocketed toward the International Space Station on Friday to replace the astronauts who returned to Earth early in NASA's first medical evacuation.

SpaceX launched the replacements as soon as possible at NASA’s request, sending the U.S., French and Russian astronauts on an expected eight- to nine-month mission stretching until fall. The four should arrive at the orbiting lab Saturday, filling the vacancies left by their evacuated colleagues last month and bringing the space station back to full staff.

“It turns out Friday the 13th is a very lucky day,” SpaceX Launch Control radioed once the astronauts reached orbit. “That was quite a ride,” replied the crew's commander, Jessica Meir.

NASA had to put spacewalks on hold and deferred other duties while awaiting the arrival of Americans Meir and Jack Hathaway, France’s Sophie Adenot and Russia’s Andrei Fedyaev. They'll join three other astronauts — one American and two Russians — who kept the space station running the past month.

Satisfied with medical procedures already in place, NASA ordered no extra checkups for the crew ahead of liftoff and no new diagnostic equipment was packed. An ultrasound machine already up there for research went into overdrive Jan. 7 when used on the ailing crew member. NASA has not revealed the ill astronaut’s identity or health issue. All four returning astronauts went straight to the hospital after splashing down in the Pacific near San Diego.

It was the first time in 65 years of human spaceflight that NASA cut short a mission for medical reasons.

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