SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, carrying four astronauts for NASA’s Crew-12 mission, autonomously docked with the International Space Station on Saturday.
The spacecraft launched at 5:15 a.m. Eastern Time on Friday aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and reached the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module at around 3:15 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturday.
The four-member team comprises Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway from NASA, Sophie Adenot of the European Space Agency, and cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev from Roscosmos.
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Over the nearly eight-month mission, Crew-12 will carry out a range of scientific experiments to support future human missions beyond low Earth orbit and deliver benefits for life on Earth, NASA said.
The crew will investigate pneumonia-causing bacteria to support better cardiovascular therapies and evaluate technologies for producing intravenous fluids on demand for future space missions. They will also assess how different physical traits influence blood circulation during spaceflight.
According to NASA, other studies will focus on automated monitoring of plant health and exploring interactions between plants and nitrogen-fixing microbes to boost food production in space.