The International Space Station has returned to full strength with the arrival of four new astronauts, who will replace colleagues who left early due to health concerns. SpaceX delivered American, French and Russian astronauts on Saturday (Feb. 14, 2026), a day after launching from Cape Canaveral.

Last month’s medical evacuation was NASA’s first in 65 years of human spaceflight. One of four astronauts launched by SpaceX last summer suffered what officials described as a serious health problem, prompting a hasty return. This left only three crew members to keep the space running – one American and two Russians – prompting NASA to halt the spacewalk and curtail research.

NASA’s Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, France’s Sophie Adenot and Russia’s Andrei Fadeyev are moving in for eight to nine months. Ms Mir, a marine biologist, and Mr Fadeyev, a former military pilot, have lived there before. During her first visit to the station in 2019, Ms.

Meir participated in the first all-female spacewalk. Ms Adenot, a military helicopter pilot, is only the second French woman to fly in space.

Hathaway is a Captain in the US Navy. NASA has refused to reveal the identity of the astronaut who fell ill in orbit on Jan. 7 or what happened, citing medical confidentiality.

The ill astronaut and three others returned to Earth more than a month earlier than planned. He spent his first night on Earth in the hospital before returning to Houston. The space agency said it had not made any changes to its pre-flight medical screening for his replacement.