Crew-12 Prepares for Return: What Changes on the ISS and How to Spot It

When you look up at the night sky over the coming evenings and spot that unmistakable bright dot crossing overhead, you should know that inside, farewells are taking place, scientific samples are being packed, and reentry preparations are well underway. Four Crew-12 mission members are about to leave the International Space Station in early October after months of microgravity research. Knowing exactly what is happening up there turns a simple nighttime sighting into an experience directly connected to humanity's journey in space.

What Happened

NASA has officially confirmed the conclusion of SpaceX's commercial Crew-12 mission operations, scheduling its undocking and return to Earth for early October, according to the U.S. space agency. The returning crew consists of NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. Together, they have completed an intensive schedule of scientific experiments focused on human health, biology in microgravity, and material behavior outside our atmosphere.

A spacecraft's departure is never an improvised affair. Over the past few weeks, the station has been operating with an exceptional crew of 11 people—a crowd that pushes living spaces to their limits and turns the modules into a bustling hub of logistical activity. Currently living aboard are Jessica Meir, Jessica Watkins, Joshua Kutryk, Anna Kikina, Pyotr Dubrov, Luke Delaney, Jack Hathaway, Anil Menon, Andrei Fedyaev, Sophie Adenot, and Sergey Teteryatnikov. You can explore each crew member's role and background in detail in our dedicated section on the ISS crew.

The farewell process involves handing over operational control to crewmates remaining in orbit, ensuring that spacesuits and Dragon capsule seats are custom-fitted, and prepping cryogenic freezers carrying critical biological samples that cannot degrade during atmospheric descent.

Why It Matters

Beyond the obvious crew rotation, this departure carries deeper implications that often go unnoticed in official press releases. First, the presence of French astronaut Sophie Adenot marks a turning point for Europe. As the crew prepares for its return, the European Space Agency is actively exploring options to develop European-led space stations and sovereign crewed transportation capabilities, as reported by NASASpaceflight in its analysis of the sector's future following the arrival of new launch vehicles like Ariane 6. Every hour astronauts like Adenot spend aboard the ISS serves as vital empirical groundwork to define how Europe will operate—either independently or in coalitions—once the International Space Station is decommissioned in the next decade.

Second, the departure of Crew-12 brings a dramatic shift in orbital dynamics. Dropping from 11 to 7 crew members immediately relieves demand on life-support resources (recycled water, oxygen generated via electrolysis, and carbon dioxide that must be continuously scrubbed). With seven astronauts, the station returns to its standard work-and-rest schedule, where everyone enjoys a private cabin and life-support maintenance tasks are redistributed.

Finally, the orbital traffic schedule around the station and Florida's launch pads remains pushed to the limit. Parallel to these return operations, commercial and national security space activity is ramping up with high-profile launches such as classified missions on Falcon Heavy rockets, according to Spaceflight Now. This demonstrates that global space infrastructure operates on a tightly choreographed cadence, balancing government launches, defense flights, and crewed missions that must clear docking ports at the station to make way for incoming cargo vehicles.

What to Look for in the Sky

For skywatchers on the ground, these handover and undocking periods offer some of the most captivating astronomical sights available. According to real-time data from our ISS tracker, the station is currently flying at an altitude of 418 kilometers, traveling at a steady speed of 27,591 km/h. At that height, the orbital laboratory takes just about 92 minutes to complete a full orbit around Earth.

That staggering speed is why a visible pass over your city lasts, at most, between 3 and 6 minutes. But in the hours following the Crew-12 Dragon capsule's undocking, the sky can offer a rare spectacle: the so-called "orbital chase." Once Dragon separates from the station, it begins to drift away slowly using its Draco thrusters to maneuver onto a safe descent trajectory. If lighting conditions and your location align with that window, you can spot two bright points of light moving in the same direction and at the same speed: the towering ISS leading the way, with the capsule trailing a few seconds behind.

You don't need binoculars or telescopes to enjoy these sightings; in fact, magnification makes it harder to track an object sweeping across the night sky so quickly. The key is planning ahead and knowing precisely when the ISS will reflect sunlight while your surroundings are in darkness. We recommend checking in advance what time the ISS passes over your location so you can set an alarm about ten minutes before the pass begins, giving your eyes time to adapt to the dark.

Pay close attention to its brightness: with an array of deployed solar panels spanning more than 100 meters, the ISS can outshine any star and even rival the planet Venus, appearing out of nowhere on the western horizon and fading in the east as it slips into Earth's shadow.

Take advantage of the upcoming clear nights to step outside while all 11 astronauts still share a roof over our heads. Simply pull up our tracker to instantly find out where to look and when they will soar across your horizon.