NASA spacecraft leaves ISS in historic medical evacuation for ailing astronaut

Four astronauts successfully departed the International Space Station (ISS) in a historic medical evacuation that took less than a week to plan.

The SpaceX Dragon capsule departed the ISS at 5:20 pm ET and began an approximately 10-hour spaceflight from orbit over the United States to its exit point early Thursday morning.

The capsule carrying NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov is expected to land on the coast of California at around 03.41 on January 15.

Deorbiting, scheduled for around 2:50 a.m., involves briefly firing the Dragon’s engines to reduce the capsule’s speed, slowing the craft enough to allow gravity to take control and pull it back to Earth.

SpaceX and NASA officials said that the entire deorbiting process will be carried out automatically by capsule computers.

Minutes after docking, the Dragon capsule completed two engine burns to move the spacecraft away from the ISS and out of what is known as the ‘Keep Out Sphere’, an imaginary safety zone around the station to protect it from collisions during docking and takeoff.

Crew-11 was not scheduled to return to Earth for another month, but a member of the crew suffered a serious medical problem on January 7, causing the planned spacewalk to be cancelled.

While it was not announced that the astronaut suffered a medical event, NASA’s chief medical officer, Dr. James Polk said they were in stable condition and were not in immediate danger.

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Crew-11 entered the SpaceX Dragon capsule Wednesday afternoon and closed the spacecraft’s hatch at 2:29 p.m. ET.

New NASA administrator Jared Isaacman decided to bring the crew home early out of an abundance of caution, stating that the astronaut’s medical condition was considered ‘serious’ and would require additional medical care on Earth.

This is the first time a crew member’s mission on the ISS has ended early for medical reasons.

However, Dr Polk stated that the astronaut’s medical condition had nothing to do with the spacewalk, which was canceled on January 8, or other operations on the station.

“It’s mostly a medical issue in the harsh areas of microgravity,” Polk said at a Jan. 8 press conference, without going into details.

Crew-11 arrived at the ISS on August 1, 2025, meaning their return date is planned for late February.

The four astronauts were supposed to leave after Crew-12 arrived on a new SpaceX Dragon capsule before February 15.

Until they arrive, a group including NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, who arrived at the ISS aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft in November 2025, will maintain the station.

Isaacman said any decision to potentially advance the Crew-12 launch would not impact the Artemis II mission planned for February 2026.

Crew-11 before leaving the ISS. Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov (Back left), NASA astronaut Mike Fincke (Front left), JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui (Front right) and NASA’s Zena Cardman (Back right).

The SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying Crew-11 (Image) has been docked with the ISS since August 2025.

He described the two launches as ‘completely separate campaigns’, meaning there should be no problems launching Artemis on time. Artemis II will be the first human spaceflight to orbit the Moon since 1972.

Just 10 months ago, SpaceX and NASA conducted a historic rescue mission to save astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who were stranded on the ISS for 286 days after the Boeing spacecraft Starliner malfunctioned.

A press conference is scheduled for Thursday morning once Crew-11 is safely back on Earth.

Crew-11 completed two successful engine burns after departing the station and exited the ‘Keep Out Zone’ around the ISS approximately 20 minutes after liftoff on Wednesday.