• Four astronauts arrive at the International Space Station to replace evacuated crew.
• This marks NASA's first medical evacuation in 65 years of human spaceflight.
• The new crew includes astronauts from the US, France, and Russia.
• NASA did not change preflight medical checks despite the previous evacuation.

The International Space Station (ISS) returned to full operational strength with the arrival of four new astronauts on Saturday, following the evacuation of their colleagues due to health issues. This event was enacted a day after SpaceX launched the new crew from Cape Canaveral, which included American, French, and Russian astronauts. The evacuation last month was unprecedented for NASA, marking its first in 65 years of human spaceflight, prompted by a severe health issue affecting one of the onboard astronauts according to channelnewsasia, scmp, and latimes.

With the new arrivals, NASA's Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, France’s Sophie Adenot, and Russia’s Andrey Fedyaev will reside on the ISS for a duration of eight to nine months. Notably, Meir is a marine biologist who previously participated in the first all-female spacewalk. Hathaway, a captain in the US Navy, and Adenot, who made history as the second French woman to fly in space, joined Fedyaev, a former military pilot, in what has been described as an exciting moment upon arriving at the ISS, according to scmp and latimes.

After the new crew docked at the space station, they shared celebrations by hugging and exchanging high-fives, with Meir remarking, “Let’s get rolling.” NASA is maintaining confidentiality regarding the identity of the astronaut who experienced health complications on January 7, citing medical privacy laws. The astronaut and three others were returned to Earth earlier than originally planned and were hospitalized briefly before returning to Houston, as reported by channelnewsasia, scmp, and latimes.