A team of four astronauts is on its way to the International Space Station following a predawn launch Friday from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket ignited before sunrise, lighting up the dark sky as it climbed into orbit during a roughly nine-minute ascent. The crew is scheduled to rendezvous and dock with the space station Saturday afternoon, Eastern time.

The orbiting laboratory has been staffed by only three astronauts since last month. Under normal circumstances, incoming crews overlap with departing teams for several days to allow for a smooth transition and knowledge handoff. However, NASA’s previous mission, Crew-11, returned to Earth earlier than planned in January, a month ahead of schedule. The agency cited a “serious” but stable medical condition affecting one crew member. The incident marked the first medical evacuation in the station’s 26-year history.

The current mission, Crew-12, is led by NASA commander Jessica Meir, with Jack Hathaway serving as pilot. They are joined aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft by Sophie Adenot of the European Space Agency and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. The four astronauts are expected to remain on the station for approximately eight months, during which they will carry out scientific experiments, conduct research, and perform maintenance on the facility.

For Meir and Fedyaev, this marks their second journey to the space station. Hathaway and Adenot are making their first trips to space.

During her previous stay aboard the station in 2019, Meir made history alongside NASA astronaut Christina Koch by participating in the first all-female spacewalk. The pair spent more than seven hours outside the station replacing a malfunctioning battery charger.