A crew of four is making final preparations ahead of a historic medical evacuation from the International Space Station, ending the mission about a month early – a first for NASA.
Last week, NASA disclosed that a medical issue involving one of the astronauts of SpaceX’s Crew-11 mission forced the cancellation of a planned spacewalk. The agency did not identify the astronaut or share details of the ailment due to medical privacy. The astronaut is “stable,” according to the agency.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said NASA decided to bring the astronauts home for further medical evaluation.
“After discussions with chief health and medical officer J.D. Poke and leadership across the agency, I have come to the decision it is in the best interest to return Crew-11 ahead of their planned departure,” Isaacman said.
That means the entire crew must return – they all arrived at the space station in August on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule. It’s the only ride home for the two U.S. astronauts, Japanese Space Agency astronaut and Russian cosmonaut.
The crew will undock from the station Wednesday no earlier than 5 p.m. ET. The SpaceX Dragon capsule will make its way back to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California Thursday at 3:14 a.m. ET.
“We are getting ready,” said NASA’s Mike Fincke as he handed over command of the space station Monday. “One part of us are getting ready to leave this beautiful space station, and another part is getting ready to take over full command and get ready to be ready for another Dragon crew to come.”
When Crew-11 crew does depart, it will leave just three people on the space station – two Russian cosmonauts and U.S. astronaut Christopher Williams.
“Despite all the changes and all the difficulties, we’re going to do our job on board ISS performing all the scientific tasks and maintenance tasks here,” said Russian cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, who takes over command. “Whatever happens, it's a big honor to be a commander of space station.
The next crew rotation, SpaceX’s Crew-12 mission, will launch from Florida’s Space Coast no earlier than Feb. 15.
