Technology & Science
SpaceX Crew-12 Launches, First Booster Touches Down at LZ-40 After ISS Medical Evacuation
At 5:15 a.m. ET on 13 Feb 2026, SpaceX launched NASA’s four-person Crew-12 to the ISS and, for the first time in Florida, landed the Falcon 9 first stage at the brand-new Landing Zone-40 beside its SLC-40 launch pad.
Focusing Facts
- Booster B1101 returned just 8 min 33 s after liftoff, marking the inaugural use of LZ-40 and ending SpaceX’s lease of LZ-1 that expired July 2025.
- Crew-12—Meir (US), Hathaway (US), Adenot (FR), Fedyaev (RU)—is slated to dock with the ISS on 14 Feb 2026 after a 34-hour flight for an eight-month stay.
- The launch restores the station to seven occupants after Crew-11’s premature 7 Jan 2026 medical evacuation, NASA’s first such abort in 65 years of human spaceflight.
Context
SpaceX’s near-pad landing echoes NASA’s 1966 Gemini 12 splashdown only 4 km from its target—a reminder that logistics efficiency has long driven mission design. By shifting to LZ-40, SpaceX replicates its 21 Dec 2015 LZ-1 debut and Vandenberg’s side-by-side pad-landing model, tightening the launch-reuse loop that underpins the century-long trend toward rapid, airplane-like orbital operations predicted by von Braun in the 1950s. Simultaneously, the seamless U.S.–EU–Russia crew shows that pragmatic interdependence on the ISS can survive geopolitical rifts just as the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz détente endured Cold War tensions. Whether this moment is a footnote or a milestone will depend on if such cost-cutting infrastructure and multinational medical resilience become standard for the Artemis–Mars era; in a 100-year view, the event is another small but necessary iteration toward routine off-planet habitation rather than a singular leap.
Perspectives
Space industry–enthusiast media
e.g., Teslarati — Frames the launch primarily as a technical triumph for SpaceX, spotlighting the first-ever booster recovery at the brand-new Landing Zone 40 as proof of the company’s growing efficiency and innovation. By celebrating SpaceX milestones almost exclusively, this coverage tends to gloss over safety concerns or NASA’s medical-evacuation backstory that could dull the shine of the achievement.
Mainstream U.S. news outlets using Associated Press copy
e.g., The Dallas Morning News, Court House News Service — Stresses that Crew-12 is a rapid replacement mission after the first medical evacuation in NASA’s 65-year human-spaceflight history, underscoring the risks of long-duration spaceflight and NASA’s cautious response. Focusing on the rare medical drama heightens a sense of peril and urgency, which can overshadow SpaceX’s operational milestones and feed a narrative of constant jeopardy in human spaceflight.
Local Florida television news
News 13 — Highlights the home-state significance of the flight, celebrating that the Falcon 9 will land near its own launch pad—an historic first for Florida’s Space Coast and a boon for the region. Local boosterism centers on economic pride and spectacle, so environmental impacts, cost questions, or broader geopolitical issues tied to the U.S.–Russia crew arrangement receive little scrutiny.