By MARCIA DUNN, Associated Press Aerospace Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A new crew rocketed toward the International Space Station on Friday to replace the astronauts who returned to Earth early in NASA’s first medical evacuation.

SpaceX launched the replacements as soon as possible at NASA’s request, sending the U.S., French and Russian astronauts on an expected eight- to nine-month mission stretching until fall. The four should arrive at the orbiting lab on Saturday, filling the vacancies left by their evacuated colleagues last month and bringing the space station back to full staff.

“It turns out Friday the 13th is a very lucky day,” SpaceX Launch Control radioed once the astronauts reached orbit. “That was quite a ride,” replied the crew’s commander, Jessica Meir.

NASA had to put spacewalks on hold and deferred other duties while awaiting the arrival of Americans Meir and Jack Hathaway, France’s Sophie Adenot and Russia’s Andrei Fedyaev. They’ll join three other astronauts — one American and two Russians — who kept the space station running the past month.

Satisfied with medical procedures already in place, NASA ordered no extra checkups for the crew ahead of liftoff and no new diagnostic equipment was packed. An ultrasound machine already up there for research went into overdrive on Jan. 7 when used on the ailing crew member. NASA has not revealed the ill astronaut’s identity or health issue. All four returning astronauts went straight to the hospital after splashing down in the Pacific near San Diego.

It was the first time in 65 years of human spaceflight that NASA cut short a mission for medical reasons.

With missions becoming longer, NASA is constantly looking at upgrades to the space station’s medical gear, said deputy program manager Dina Contella. “But there are a lot of things that are just not practical and so that’s when you need to bring astronauts home from space,” she said earlier this week.

In preparation for moon and Mars trips where health care will be even more challenging, the new arrivals will test a filter designed to turn drinking water into emergency IV fluid, try out an ultrasound system that relies on artificial intelligence and augmented reality instead of experts on the ground, and perform ultrasound scans on their jugular veins in a blood clot study.

They also will demonstrate their moon-landing skills in a simulated test.

Adenot is only the second French woman to launch to space. She was 14 when Claudie Haignere flew to Russia’s space station Mir in 1996, inspiring her to become an astronaut. Haignere cheered her on from the Florida launch site, wishing her “Bon vol,” French for “Have a good flight,” and “Ad astra,” Latin for “To the stars.”

“I thought it would have been a quiet joy with pride for Sophie, but it was so hugely emotional to see her with a successful launch,” Haignere said.

Hathaway, like Adenot, is new to space, while Meir and Fedyaev are making their second station trip. Just before liftoff, Fedyaev led the crew in a cry of “Poyekhali” — Russian for “Let’s Go” — the word uttered at liftoff by the world’s first person in space, the Soviet Union’s Yuri Gagarin, in 1961.

On her first mission in 2019, Meir took part in the first all-female spacewalk. The other half of that spacewalk, Christina Koch, is among the four Artemis II astronauts waiting to fly around the moon as early as March. A ship-to-ship radio linkup is planned between the two crews.

Related Articles

Today in History: February 13, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia found dead

Anthropic hits a $380B valuation as it heightens competition with OpenAI

Virginia Supreme Court rules US Marine’s adoption of an Afghan war orphan will stand

Lawyers say access to Everglades detention center is still hard to get as a judge weighs the case

Everyday lifestyle choices can add up to significant climate change impact

Meir wasn’t sure astronauts would return to the moon during her career. “Now we’re right here on the precipice of the Artemis II mission,” she said ahead of liftoff. “The fact that they will be in space at the same time as us … it’s so cool to be an astronaut now, it’s so exciting.”

SpaceX launched the latest crew from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Elon Musk’s company is preparing its neighboring Kennedy Space Center launch pad for the super-sized Starships, which NASA needs to land astronauts on the moon.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

By EMMA BURROWS, MATTHEW LEE and GEIR MOULSON, Associated Press

MUNICH (AP) — An annual gathering of top international security figures that last year set the tone for a growing rift between the United States and Europe opens Friday, bringing together many top European officials with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others.

The Munich Security Conference opens with a speech by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, one of 15 heads of state or government from European Union countries expected to attend.

Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrives for the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

The many other expected guests at the conference that runs until Sunday include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. In keeping with the conference’s tradition, there will also be a large delegation of members of the U.S. Congress.

“Trans-Atlantic relations have been the backbone of this conference since it was founded in 1963 … and trans-Atlantic relations are currently in a significant crisis of confidence and credibility,” conference chairman Wolfgang Ischinger told reporters earlier this week. “So it is particularly welcome that the American side has such great interest in Munich.”

At last year’s conference, held a few weeks into U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term, Vice President JD Vance stunned European leaders by lecturing them about the state of democracy on the continent.

A series of statements and moves from the Trump administration targeting allies followed in the months after that, including Trump’s threat last month to impose new tariffs on several European countries in a bid to secure U.S. control of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark. The president later dropped that threat.

With Rubio heading the U.S. delegation this year, European leaders can hope for a less contentious approach more focused on traditional global security concerns.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, for the Munich Security Conference. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)

Rubio is expected to meet with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen on the sidelines of the conference, according to officials from both sides, one of many meetings going on in and around the hotel that hosts the event.

Rubio also met China’s Wang ahead of Trump’s planned visit to China in April. They shook hands in front of Chinese and U.S. flags before sitting down with their delegations, but neither of them spoke.

Related Articles

Today in History: February 13, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia found dead

Remote community grieves the 8 killed in Canada’s deadliest attack in years

Deaths in Iran’s crackdown on protests reach at least 7,000, activists say

Russia fires barrage at Ukrainian cities as next round of US-brokered talks is unclear

2 Mexican Navy ships laden with humanitarian aid dock in Cuba as US blockade sparks energy crisis

Before departing for Germany on Thursday, Rubio had some reassuring words as he described Europe as important for Americans.

“We’re very tightly linked together with Europe,” he told reporters. “Most people in this country can trace both, either their cultural or their personal heritage, back to Europe. So, we just have to talk about that.”

But Rubio made clear it wouldn’t be business as it used to be, saying: “We live in a new era in geopolitics, and it’s going to require all of us to reexamine what that looks like.”

Rubio arrived in Munich Friday and is due to address the conference on Saturday morning.

Since last year’s Munich conference, NATO allies have agreed under pressure from Trump to a large increase in their defense spending target.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said there has been a “shift in mindset,” with “Europe really stepping up, Europe taking more of a leadership role within NATO, Europe also taking more care of its own defense.”

Moulson reported from Berlin.

ORANGEBURG, S.C. (AP) — Two people are dead and one person wounded after a shooting at a South Carolina State University residential complex, the university said, prompting a nearly eight-hour lockdown that was lifted early Friday.

Related Articles

Today in History: February 13, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia found dead

Anthropic hits a $380B valuation as it heightens competition with OpenAI

Virginia Supreme Court rules US Marine’s adoption of an Afghan war orphan will stand

Lawyers say access to Everglades detention center is still hard to get as a judge weighs the case

Everyday lifestyle choices can add up to significant climate change impact

The Thursday night shooting happened a little over four months after two shootings during homecoming celebrations on Oct. 4. One, which happened near the same residential complex, killed a 19-year-old woman. A man was injured in the other shooting. School officials announced new safety measures afterward.

University officials have not confirmed the identities of those who died in Thursday’s shooting or the condition of the person wounded, the school said in a news release.

The school put the campus in Orangeburg on lockdown at about 9:15 p.m. when a report of the shooting in an apartment at the Hugine Suites student residential complex came in. The lockdown was lifted about 5 a.m. Friday, the university said.

Kaya Mack had just finished making a food delivery on campus when she heard gunshots and saw lots of police officers coming through a gate.

She said she wasn’t sure where the shots were coming from.

“Their loud sirens kind of shook me,” she told WLTX-TV. “We were looking around, me and other people on campus, we’re all looking around like ‘What’s going on?’”

Investigators were on site and law enforcement was patrolling the campus and areas nearby. The university said it asked the State Law Enforcement Division to investigate the shooting. An email seeking comment was sent to an agency spokesperson.

The university canceled Friday classes and was making counselors available to students.

Several people have been arrested on gun-related charges in connection with the October shootings.

After the October shootings, university President Alexander Conyers announced the addition of new fencing along the campus perimeter and additional security patrols to better control pedestrian access, according to a news release at the time. Crews were also set to repair damaged perimeter barriers.

Ahead of the university’s annual Youth & ROTC Day set on Nov. 1, the university announced safety and security measures, including a second layer of fencing along the perimeter between Hugine Suites and Goff Street and repairs underway along the shared boundary between SC State and Claflin University.

By STEVE PEOPLES and LINLEY SANDERS, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans may be willing to stick with President Donald Trump through almost anything, but his recent push to seize control of Greenland has turned off many in his own party, according to a new AP-NORC poll.

The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that about 7 in 10 U.S. adults disapprove of how Trump is handling the issue of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark. That’s higher than the share who dislike how he’s handling foreign policy generally, suggesting that Trump’s Greenland approach has created a weak spot for the administration.

Even Republicans aren’t thrilled. About half disapprove of his attempt to turn the icebound landmass into American territory, something that Trump has insisted is critical for national security in the Arctic, while about half approve.

The poll was conducted Feb. 5-8, which is after Trump had made the decision to scrap tariffs designed to pressure European countries into supporting U.S. control of Greenland, but after his weeks-long push for American intervention over the island.

About half of Republicans disapprove of Trump on Greenland

Trump’s base is normally unwavering behind him, so Greenland stands out as an exception.

FILE – A Danish serviceman walks in front of Joint Arctic Command center in Nuuk, Greenland, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)

The marks represent Trump’s lowest ratings among Republicans on a list of key issues in the poll, including the economy and immigration — where about 8 in 10 approve — and foreign policy generally. About 7 in 10 Republicans approve of his overall foreign policy approach.

Trump has argued that the U.S. needs Greenland to counter threats from Russia and China in the Arctic region, despite America already having a military presence there.

Other recent polls, including a Pew Research Center survey conducted in January, found that Republicans were largely divided on whether the U.S. should take over Greenland, while Americans overall were opposed.

Ayman Amir, a 46-year-old Trump supporter from Houston, Texas, said he agrees that Greenland holds strategic importance for the United States’ military. But that doesn’t mean he thinks Trump should claim it.

“We can’t take it by force. We don’t have a right to do that,” Amir said. “You can’t blame Russia for what they do in Ukraine and then do the same thing. You can’t do this.”

Trump’s overall foreign policy approval remains steady

The president dropped his threats to seize the territory by force late last month after saying a framework for a deal over access to Greenland was reached with help from NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

Related Articles

Journalist Don Lemon set to be arraigned in St. Paul church protest case

Puerto Rico governor signs law to recognize fetus as human being as critics warn of consequences

House renames press gallery after Frederick Douglass in bipartisan recognition of Black history

Scientific studies calculate climate change as health danger, while Trump calls it a ‘scam’

Judge says US must help bring back a handful of Venezuelans deported to notorious prison

The clash represents just one of the moves Trump has made to strain relationships with key allies over the last year. Western leaders are focusing on trans-Atlantic tensions this week at the Munich Security Conference.

On Greenland, Trump has few vocal supporters at home or abroad.

Even as Trump made significant moves to obtain control of Greenland, his overall approval on the issue of foreign policy has remained steady. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults approve of Trump’s approach to foreign policy, a measure that’s been unchanged in recent months.

Young Republicans especially disapprove of Greenland approach

Younger Republicans are especially likely to disapprove of how Trump is handling the situation.

About 6 in 10 Republicans under 45 say they disapprove of his leadership on Greenland, compared to about 4 in 10 older Republicans.

That 4 in 10 who approve of Trump’s Greenland actions is much lower than young Republicans’ approval on issues of foreign policy, the economy, or immigration.

Independent voter Aaron Gunnoe, 29, an engineer from Marion, Ohio, was baffled by Trump’s aggressive posture on the NATO ally.

“It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” he said. “It’s owned by somebody else. That should be the end of it.”

The AP-NORC poll of 1,156 adults was conducted Feb. 5-8 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points. The margin of sampling error for Republicans overall is plus or minus 6.1 percentage points.