Astronauts Returning to Earth After Medical Evacuation
- For the first time in the history of the International Space Station (ISS), NASA is bringing an astronaut crew back to Earth early due to a persistent medical...
- The capsule is scheduled to splash down off the coast of California at approximately 9:40 a.m.
- The decision to return the crew was made after ongoing assessments by the Flight Medical Support Team at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
NASA Orders Early Return of Crew-11 Astronauts Due to Medical issue
For the first time in the history of the International Space Station (ISS), NASA is bringing an astronaut crew back to Earth early due to a persistent medical risk and diagnostic uncertainty involving one of its members. The four astronauts of the Crew-11 mission – Americans Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Russian Oleg Platonov, and Japanese Kimiya Yui – are returning aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule.
The capsule is scheduled to splash down off the coast of California at approximately 9:40 a.m. French time (which is 1:40 a.m. Eastern Standard Time) on January 15, 2026, according to 20 Minutes.
The decision to return the crew was made after ongoing assessments by the Flight Medical Support Team at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Specific details regarding the astronaut’s medical condition have not been publicly released, but NASA stated the risk warranted the early return to ensure the crew member receives extensive medical attention on Earth.
The Crew-11 mission launched to the ISS on November 22, 2025. The original planned duration of the mission was six months. This early return cuts the mission short by approximately two months.
This is the first time in the ISS’s over 27 years of continuous human occupation that a crew has been evacuated for medical reasons. The ISS has been continuously inhabited as November 2, 2000.