Crew-12 heads home as Crew-13 takes over ISS

NASA's Crew-12 mission is finally heading home. NASA said Friday it's targeting Oct. 7 to undock the crew. Four astronauts have lived on the station since February. They are NASA's Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, Europe's Sophie Adenot, and Russia's Andrey Fedyaev. Their replacements, Crew-13, arrived just days ago.

The timing is deliberate, not routine. NASA doesn't like leaving the station without a full crew. So Crew-13 arrived before Crew-12 left. It's commanded by Jessica Watkins, now flying her second trip on a Dragon capsule. For a few days, both crews were aboard at once. The station still runs on cooperation between rival countries. Two NASA astronauts, a European one, and a Russian cosmonaut are flying home together.

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Will the Oct. 7 target hold? The undocking depends on weather off the California coast. The date has already slipped once this week. Crew-12 spent nearly eight months in orbit. A few extra days waiting on weather is a small footnote to that mission.