CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — NASA will be sending home Crew-11 this week after one of its members suffered a medical episode.
What You Need To Know
- The undocking of Crew-11’s capsule from the International Space Station is set for early Wednesday evening
- The splashdown is expected to happen during the early morning hours on Thursday
During a press conference last week, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman would not name the astronaut or what type of medical issue he or she had but only stated that the person is in stable condition and the Crew-11 mission would be cut short so the person can receive medical care.
In August 2025, Crew-11 — made up of NASA astronauts Cmdr. Zena Cardman and pilot Michael Fincke, along with mission specialists Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov — took off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A.
They were supposed to stay onboard the International Space Station until next month, where they would be relieved of duty from Crew-12. Crew-12’s launch — originally set for February — might be moved up weeks earlier, but no official date has been given.
According to information released by NASA over the weekend, the quartet will climb on board SpaceX’s Dragon capsule named Endeavour and undock from the space station’s Harmony module at 5 p.m. ET, Wednesday.
The splashdown is expected to happen at 3:40 a.m. ET, in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California.
Officials stated that in its 25-year history, this is the first time there has been a medical evacuation from the International Space Station.
However, they stated this was an emergency de-orbit.
While it is unknown what the medical episode was, it was enough to cancel a planned spacewalk that was set for the morning of Thursday, Jan. 08.
Fincke and Cardman were going to do a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk to install a modification kit and cables for a future rollout of a solar array.
Anthony Leone
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