NASA astronauts back on Earth after unprecedented medical emergency on ISS

Four astronauts have landed back on Earth after being evacuated from the International Space Station (ISS) due to an unprecedented medical event.

NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov emerged from NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 Dragon spacecraft, which splashed down in darkness off the coast of California at 3:41 a.m. ET on Thursday (Jan. 15).

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told a news conference that all members of the crew are "safe and in good spirits."

The landing marks the completion of an unprecedented early return of the astronauts due to an undisclosed medical issue affecting one of the crew. This is the first time that an ISS mission has been cut short for health reasons, Live Science's sister site Space.com reported.

Crew-11 launched into space on Aug. 1, 2025, and was scheduled to remain aboard the ISS until another crew replaced them in mid-February. However, on Jan. 7, NASA postponed a spacewalk outside of the ISS because of a medical issue that arose with one of the astronauts, before announcing the early return of the whole crew the following day.

The Dragon capsule undocked from the ISS at 5.20 p.m. ET on Wednesday (Jan. 14), before heading back to Earth. After the capsule landed in the Pacific Ocean, it was loaded onto a SpaceX recovery ship. The astronauts were then assisted out of the capsule and placed on stretchers, which is standard practice for all returning astronauts, before being taken to routine medical checks.

All four crew members are now attending a local hospital. NASA has not named the astronaut who experienced the medical problem or provided any details on the medical issue, citing medical privacy. The agency previously confirmed that the issue only involved one individual.

"The crew member of concern is doing fine," Isaacman said. "We will share updates on their health as soon as it's appropriate to do so."

The crew was originally meant to be replaced at the ISS by Crew-12, which won't arrive there until next month. Such a disruption to staff rotation is unusual. However, there are other astronauts living on the ISS, including NASA's Christopher Williams and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikayev.