Four new astronauts arrive at the ISS to replace NASA’s evacuated crew

The International Space Station returned to full strength with the arrival of four new astronauts to replace colleagues who resigned early due to health problems.

SpaceX delivered the American, French and Russian astronauts on Saturday, a day after they launched 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, leading to their hasty return. That left just three crew members to keep things running – one American and two Russians – prompting NASA to pause the spacewalks and curtail the investigation.

Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway from NASA, Sophie Adenot from France and Andrei Fedyaev from Russia are coming for eight to nine months. Meir, a marine biologist, and Fedyaev, a former military pilot, have lived there before. During her first station visit in 2019, Meir took part in the first all-female spacewalk.

Adenot, a military helicopter pilot, is only the second French woman to fly in space. Hathaway is a captain in the United States Navy.

NASA has declined to reveal the identity of the astronaut who fell ill in orbit on January 7, or explain what happened, citing medical privacy. The ailing astronaut and three others returned to Earth more than a month ahead of schedule. They spent their first night on Earth in the hospital before returning to Houston.

The space agency said it had not changed the pre-flight medical checks for their replacements.