Official begin of ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot’s εpsilon mission

The crew of 4 have been launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy House Middle in Florida, at 10:15 GMT/11:15 CET on Friday 13 February.

After spending about 34 hours orbiting Earth and catching up with the Worldwide House Station, the members of Crew-12 ready for docking. First-time flyers Sophie Adenot and Jack Hathaway, each with a test-pilot background, used this time to familiarise themselves with residing and dealing in microgravity. 

As soon as the hatches have been opened, Crew‑12 was welcomed on board by NASA astronaut Christopher Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Kud‑Sverchkov and Sergei Mikayev, who’ve been on the Station since their arrival on a Soyuz in November 2025.

ESA’s Sophie Adenot and NASA’s Jack Hathaway then acquired their astronaut wings from Station Commander Sergei Kud‑Sverchkov throughout a brief ceremony. Crew‑12 additionally expressed their gratitude to the NASA and SpaceX groups for the sleek flight and shared their eagerness to start work.

Able to advance science

With Sophie on board, the εpsilon mission has formally began. Scheduled to last as long as 9 months, εpsilon is ready to grow to be the longest ESA astronaut mission up to now. Throughout her time on the Station, Sophie will function crew specialist for each Columbus, the European laboratory module, and Kibo, the Japanese science module.

Sophie will conduct as much as 36 experiments from Europe, together with seven developed by CNES, the French area company, particularly for the εpsilon mission. Protecting a variety of scientific domains, from human physiology and local weather analysis to expertise demonstrations, analysis carried out on board the Station goals to profit life on Earth and to assist future exploration missions.

“The εpsilon mission highlights ESA’s dedication to sustaining a steady human presence in low‑Earth orbit and associated utilisation, beginning with science. Sophie is the primary profession astronaut of the Class of 2022, the ‘Hoppers’, to fly,” stated ESA’s Director of Human and Robotic Exploration Daniel Neuenschwander.

“She transitioned straight from primary coaching to mission‑particular coaching and persistently carried out above expectations. I’m happy with the distinctive work carried out by Sophie and by our groups, a bunch of proficient ‘εpsilon’ making all this attainable.”

Comply with the εpsilon mission

Sophie will share her mission from orbit through her Instagram, X, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. You may be taught extra in regards to the εpsilon mission, together with the science that Sophie will carry out, on ESA’s εpsilon web page.

Info on the εpsilon mission: