'Good to be home': Nasa carries out first-ever medical evacuation; Crew-11 splashes down off San Diego — Watch

Four International Space Station crewmembers returned to Earth early Thursday, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego after a medical issue forced Nasa’s Crew-11 mission to end more than a month ahead of schedule.Video shared by Nasa showed a SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying American astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov and Japan’s Kimiya Yui landing at about 3.41 am ET (0841 GMT). The middle-of-the-night splashdown came less than 11 hours after the crew departed the space station, marking the first medical evacuation in the ISS program.

“It’s so good to be home,” said Nasa astronaut Zena Cardman, the capsule commander.Residents across California also shared videos of the capsule as it lit up the night sky.https://x.com/davidtphung/status/2011720606266646918?s=20The crew, Nasa astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui, and Russia’s Oleg Platonov, returned to Earth more than a month earlier than planned. Nasa officials have declined to identify the astronaut who experienced the health issue or provide details, citing medical privacy.

Nasa said the astronaut was stable in orbit but was brought back to Earth to receive proper medical care and diagnostic testing. Officials stressed that the situation was not an emergency and said no special changes were required for the capsule’s entry or splashdown. The recovery ship carried its standard team of medical experts.The mission began in August and ended early, leaving the space station with one American astronaut and one Russian cosmonaut and a Chinese astronaut on board.

Nasa and SpaceX said they are working to move up the launch of a replacement crew of four, currently targeted for mid-February.The health issue began on January 7, prompting Nasa to cancel a planned spacewalk by Cardman and Fincke the following day and eventually order the early return. It marked the first time Nasa has cut short a spaceflight for medical reasons, though Russian crews have done so in the past.The space station has operated with three astronauts before, and sometimes with only two.

Nasa said it will be unable to perform a spacewalk, even in an emergency, until the arrival of the next crew, which will include two Americans, one French astronaut and one Russian cosmonaut.It was not immediately known when the astronauts would travel from California to their home base in Houston, and Platonov’s return to Moscow was also unclear. Nasa officials said the ailing astronaut is “stable, safe, and well cared for,” according to a social media post earlier this week by outgoing station commander Mike Fincke.