The four astronauts on an ISS mission, which was shortened due to health concerns, have safely returned to Earth.
Crew-11, including NASA’s Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Japan’s Kimiya Yui, and Russia’s Oleg Platonov, arrived at the International Space Station on August 1.
They were scheduled for a six-and-a-half-month stay but had to leave the mission a month early due to a ‘serious health condition’ affecting one of the crew members.
This marked the first instance in history where the ISS, continuously occupied since 2000, had to be evacuated ahead of schedule, according to the BBC.
Last week, a planned spacewalk by Fincke and Cardman was unexpectedly canceled. Shortly after, NASA announced that the ISS mission would be concluded earlier than planned.
NASA officials stated: “This is not an emergency evacuation. We always err on the side of the astronaut’s health.”
The specific details of the medical issue and the affected astronaut are not disclosed, but the agency mentioned it was neither an injury nor related to space operations.
In a social media update, NASA’s Fincke assured that all crew members were ‘stable, safe, and well cared for.’
On Thursday morning (January 15), a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying Crew-11 successfully landed in the Pacific Ocean.
NASA confirmed the landing on X, formerly Twitter, with the message: “Welcome home, Crew-11! At 3:41am ET (0841 UTC), the @SpaceX Dragon spacecraft splashed down off the coast of San Diego, California!”
As the capsule descended in the night sky, locals captured the stunning orange trail it created.
NASA’s Spaceflight YouTube channel streamed the descent live, capturing the precise moment of splashdown.
You can watch the memorable moment below.
The early departure of Crew-11 leaves NASA’s Christopher Williams and cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikayev in charge of the ISS. They arrived on November 27.
Crew-11 SPLASHDOWN. pic.twitter.com/wjqJOLUfe1
— NSF – NASASpaceflight.com (@NASASpaceflight) January 15, 2026
Fincke described handing over control of the ISS as ‘bittersweet’ last week.
Kud-Sverchkov remarked: “Despite all the changes and all the difficulties, we are going to do our job onboard ISS, performing all the scientific tasks, maintenance tasks here, whatever happens.”
Crew-12 is set to launch from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on February 15.
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway will serve as spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively, while European Space Agency’s Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev will be mission specialists.
This early evacuation happens 10 months after astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who were left in space, finally returned home.
Their NASA mission, intended to last eight days, turned into a nine-month ordeal after Boeing’s Starliner capsule, their planned ride home, faced significant technical difficulties.
Ultimately, a SpaceX Dragon capsule safely returned them to Earth.