The Crew-12 astronauts will soon make their way to the ISS, joining the three remaining spacefarers on board after the previous mission was cut short due to a medical concern. NASA was originally planning a February 15 launch date for the mission, but it has moved it up to February 11. It’s now targeting a liftoff of no earlier than 6:01 AM Eastern that day from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The crew members are already in quarantine, and if everything goes well on launch day, the Dragon capsule they’re on will dock with the orbiting lab at approximately 10:30 AM on February 12.

If you’ll recall, NASA decided to bring Crew-11 members back home on January 15, a month earlier than planned, citing a medical concern with one of the members. While the affected astronaut was stable, the ISS didn’t have the equipment necessary to be able to diagnose them properly. All four members of Crew-11 flew home, leaving the whole space station in the hands of three people, namely NASA astronaut Chris Williams and two cosmonauts for the Russian side. They will be joined by Crew-12’s NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency’s Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.

SpaceX recently had to ground its Falcon 9 rocket after an issue with its upper stage for a few days, leaving the Crew-12’s flight schedule in question. But on February 6, the Federal Aviation Administration cleared it for its next flight. NASA will livestream the mission’s prelaunch, launch and docking activities on NASA+, Amazon Prime and on its YouTube channel, with its launch coverage starting at 4AM Eastern time on February 11. You can also bookmark or pin this page to watch the launch below.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says the U.S. wants Russia and Ukraine to sign a peace deal that ends the war by June, before President Trump pivots to focusing his energy on the midterm elections.

Why it matters: The U.S. timeline Zelensky laid out is pretty ambitious, both because there are still significant gaps between Russia and Ukraine and because Ukraine will have to hold a referendum on the peace deal before it is signed — a process that can take several months.

• "We had very good talks today having to do with Russia-Ukraine. Something could be happening," Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Friday night.

Driving the news: Senior officials from Russia and Ukraine held on Wednesday and Thursday a second round of negotiations in Abu Dhabi mediated by Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

• Zelensky said the Russian delegation in Abu Dhabi has changed its rhetoric and instead of getting into "historical arguments" conducted a "concrete" discussion on what it is ready to do and what it isn't ready to do.

Zoom in: The talks were held in a military working group that discussed the issue of how to monitor and observe a ceasefire once it is announced.

• Zelensky said that during the talks, the U.S. side confirmed it is going to be actively involved in monitoring a potential future ceasefire.
• Negotiations were also held in a political working group that discussed the main sticking point — Russia's demand that Ukraine withdraws its forces from parts of Donbas it still controls.
• Zelensky said Russia still demands a Ukrainian withdrawal from the parts of Donbas it still holds, but for the first time agreed to discuss the U.S. proposal to establish an economic zone in Donbas to try and bridge the gaps between the parties.
• Nevertheless, he stressed that Ukraine's position is still that the territorial issue will be resolved according to the current lines.

What he's saying: "'We stand where we stand' is the fairest and the most reliable model, in our view, for a ceasefire today," he said.

• "The Americans are proposing that the war be brought to an end by the beginning of this summer, and they will probably pressure the parties according to this timeline," Zelensky said.
• He explained that his understanding was that around June, the U.S. attention will shift to the congressional elections.
• "The elections are, for them, definitely more important. Let's not be naïve," he said. "They say they want to achieve everything by June, and they will do everything possible to ensure the war ends that way."

State of play: Zelensky said that during the talks in Abu Dhabi earlier this week the U.S. proposed to resume the agreement on suspending attacks on energy facilities.

• A similar initiative by Trump two weeks ago led to four days with no Russian attacks on power plants in Ukraine.
• "Ukraine has confirmed; Russia has not yet responded," Zelensky said.
• Zelensky said that Russia and Ukraine discussed in Abu Dhabi for the first time the possibility that the most difficult sticking points that remain will be brought to a trilateral leaders' summit.

The bottom line: Zelensky said the Trump administration refuses to sign the U.S.-Ukraine security guarantees agreement, even though it is practically ready.

• He said the U.S. wants to sign it "roughly at the same time" with all other agreements that are part of the peace deal.
• Zelensky stressed he wants to sign the security guarantees first to increase trust in Ukrainian public opinion that the peace deal will be real.
• "There can be no end to the war without security guarantees," he said. "This is an absolute certainty. Everyone understands this. Ending the war requires security."

What's next: Zelensky said the U.S. has, for the first time, proposed that Ukrainian and Russian negotiators meet in the U.S., likely in Miami in a week to continue the talks.

• "We have confirmed our participation," he said.

Go deeper: U.S. and Russia agree to observe New START nuclear pact after expiration