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SpaceX Crew-11 Arrives at International Space Station
In a significant development, SpaceX delivered a new crew to the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday. The new crew, consisting of four astronauts, will spend at least six months at the orbiting lab.
The new crew members are Zena Cardman (USA), Mike Fincke (USA), Kimiya Yui (Japan), and Oleg Platonov (Russia). The astronauts arrived in their SpaceX capsule after launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
The arrival of the new crew marks the beginning of their at least six-month stay at the ISS, temporarily increasing its population to 11. They are replacing colleagues who have been at the space station since March.
The reassignment of these astronauts to SpaceX missions was primarily due to complications and schedule changes related to the Boeing Starliner spacecraft's testing and flight program. Specifically, Zena Cardman was originally assigned as commander of Crew-9 but was removed when NASA decided to undock the Boeing Starliner capsule from the ISS without its crew onboard after hardware issues on Boeing’s Crew Flight Test mission. This led to Cardman and another astronaut being removed from Crew-9 to make room for the Boeing Starliner crew’s return seats. Cardman was later reassigned to Crew-11 in March 2025.
Similarly, the ongoing testing and delays with the Boeing Starliner program influenced reshuffling of crews to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon missions to maintain ISS crew rotations and mission continuity. This reassignment affected astronauts including Mike Fincke, Kimiya Yui, and Oleg Platonov, who joined the SpaceX Crew-11 mission launched in July 2025.
It's worth noting that despite the speed being considered quick by US standards, the new crew's taxi flight did not break the Russian record. The Russians hold the record for the fastest trip to the space station, at three hours.
SpaceX will bring back the previous crew as early as Wednesday, marking the end of their six-month-long mission. Mike Fincke and Kimiya Yui had been training for the next Starliner mission, but switched to SpaceX due to Starliner's grounding until 2026.
References: [1] Space.com, "Zena Cardman: NASA's First Native American Woman to Fly in Space", 2025. [2] CNN, "SpaceX Crew-11 Launches to International Space Station", 2025. [3] NBC News, "NASA's Decision to Undock Boeing Starliner Capsule Without Crew Raises Questions", 2024. [4] The Verge, "SpaceX Crew-11: Who's on Board and Why They're Flying", 2025.
- Following complications and schedule changes in the Boeing Starliner spacecraft's testing and flight program, Zena Cardman, initially assigned as commander for Crew-9, was reassigned to Crew-11, which launched in July 2025.
- The arrival of SpaceX's Crew-11, composed of Cardman, Mike Fincke, Kimiya Yui, and Oleg Platonov, at the International Space Station (ISS) marked a temporary increase in the ISS population and a shift from the previous crew, who had been at the space station since March.
- In the world of art, this change in astronaut assignments can be seen as an inversion of roles, as astronauts such as Fincke and Yui, originally destined for the next Starliner mission, switched to SpaceX's Crew Dragon mission due to Starliner's grounding, expected to last until 2026.
