NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission is concluding, with its four crew members scheduled to return from the International Space Station in early October.
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev spent their mission supporting research designed to benefit life on Earth and help prepare people for future deep-space travel, NASA said.
Among the work highlighted by NASA were crystal-growth experiments, which use the microgravity environment to reveal details that can be difficult to study on Earth. The station’s weightless laboratory also gives researchers a setting to examine how cells behave and how materials take shape.
The crew traveled to the orbiting laboratory aboard a Dragon spacecraft. Their return will bring an end to the Crew-12 stay as NASA continues research operations aboard the International Space Station.