A team of astronauts from the United States, Japan, and the European Space Agency is expected to dock at the International Space Station (ISS) on April 12, according to SpaceX officials. The mission, part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, will see the crew spend approximately six months conducting scientific research and maintenance work. The spacecraft, a modified Boeing Starliner, launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on March 30 and is now en route to the orbiting laboratory.
The crew includes NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, and ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. All three have previous experience on the ISS, with Wakata having spent 117 days on the station during a 2019 mission. This will be Cristoforetti’s second visit to the ISS, following a six-month stay in 2022.
The mission comes amid increased international collaboration on the ISS, with recent visits from Russian and Chinese crews highlighting the station’s role as a global research platform. The crew will conduct experiments in biology, physics, and Earth observation, with a focus on long-duration spaceflight effects on the human body.
SpaceX and Boeing are competing to transport astronauts to the ISS under NASA contracts, with this mission marking Boeing’s first successful crewed flight since a 2019 abort due to technical issues. The Starliner’s systems have undergone extensive testing since then, and officials say the spacecraft is operating normally.
The crew is expected to join the current ISS team of six astronauts, bringing the total number of residents to 12 for a brief period. The mission is scheduled to end in October, with the crew returning to Earth via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. No details about specific experiments have been released, but NASA said the research will support future deep-space missions.