France, Jan. 15 -- NASA said Adenot's Epsilon mission, originally planned for mid-February, could now launch as early as 8 February from Florida. The space agency also confirmed the mission will last nine months instead of the usual six.

The change tightens an already packed training and launch schedule for the 43-year-old test pilot, who is part of the European Space Agency's (ESA) astronaut corps.

NASA had previously planned the launch "no earlier than 15 February" 2026 aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon as part of the Crew-12 mission.

After the early return of Crew-11, US planners are now studying options to move the launch forward by several days to maintain a continuous human presence on the station.

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet sets...