NASA’s International Space Station (ISS) crew, including an ill astronaut, is scheduled to return to Earth on Thursday morning.
On January 8, NASA announced that the current ISS mission would be terminated out of an abundance of caution due to a medical condition affecting one of the astronauts on board.
“We have determined that it is in the best interest of the astronauts to return Crew-11 ahead of its scheduled departure,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said at a press conference on January 8.
According to reports, Crew 11 is expected to undock from the ISS at 5:20 p.m. ET on Wednesday and splash down off the coast of California around 3:41 a.m. Thursday. NASA.
On Tuesday, the crew made preparations to pack cargo, review return-to-Earth procedures and transfer hardware to the ISS, the agency said.
They will return to Earth aboard SpaceX’s Dragon Endeavor. This spaceship is the same one that took them to the station.
Members of Crew-11 gather to take portraits of the crew in their Dragon pressure suits while the suit is being tested inside the International Space Station’s Kibo laboratory module.
NASA
Dr. James “JD” Polk said at the Jan. 8 meeting that no emergency evacuation was ordered because the astronauts were stable. NASA said the astronaut remains in stable condition.
The mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which partners with private companies to send humans to the ISS.
Crew-11 includes two American astronauts, a Japanese astronaut, and a Roscosmos astronaut. They headed to the ISS on August 1st and were scheduled to stay there from mid-February to late February.
According to NASA, this will be “the 11th crew rotation mission for SpaceX’s human space transportation system and the 12th flight with astronauts.”
In November, the crew celebrated a historic milestone for the ISS: 25 years since the first crew arrived on the station.
Crew 11 mission cosmonauts Oleg Platonov, Mike Finke, Zena Cardman, and Kimiya Yui depart from the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Testing Wing to launch Complex LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida, August 1, 2025.
Greg Newton/AFP via Getty Images
NASA has not said which astronauts were affected due to privacy concerns, nor does it discuss the individual’s condition or symptoms.
Polk said this was the first time in 25 years that a medical evacuation was required.
The unprecedented move comes after NASA announced it was postponing a spacewalk with two American astronauts scheduled for the morning of January 8th.