Four new crew members are on their way to the International Space Station after launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida Friday morning.
The Crew-12 mission will arrive at an unusually quiet orbiting laboratory after four astronauts were brought back early when one of those astronauts experienced a medical issue.
High winds earlier this week along the flight path caused NASA to push the launch back two days.
In the time the space station has been understaffed, no major issues have cropped up, NASA officials said in a news briefing earlier this week. As such, there was no urgent need to rush the new crew's arrival.
The members of Crew-12 — NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev — are slated to remain at the orbiting outpost for around eight months.
During that time, they will conduct science experiments, including research on food production in space, how microgravity affects blood flow in the body, and other studies to prepare for future moon and Mars missions.
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