SpaceX Capsule Performing 1st Ever Medical Evacuation from the ISS Landed Safely Off the Coast of San Diego This Morning
NASA’s first medical evacuation from the International Space Station (ISS) - carrying the four Crew-11 astronauts - ended with a successful 3.41am ET / 12.41am PT splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off of San Diego this morning (Jan. 15).
(The Pacific Ocean) A SpaceX Crew Dragon carrying four NASA Crew-11 astronauts returned to Earth via a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off he coast of San Diego today (Jan. 15) at 3.41am EST / 12.41 am PST (0841 GMT) about 10.5 hours after undocking from the International Space Station (ISS), completing the first ever medical evacuation of the ISS due to an issue experienced by a crew member.
Image of recovery crews securing SpaceX’s Crew-11 Dragon capsule shortly after its return to Earth on Jan. 15, 2026 courtesy of NASA/Bill Ingalls via Space.com.
The mission marked the first time in the history of the IS that a mission has been shortened due to astronaut health reasons.
Onboard the Crew Dragon capsule were the four Crew-11 members, including NASA’s Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.
Fincke, Cardman, Yui and Platonov launched toward the ISS on Aug. 1, 2025, kicking off SpaceX’s Crew-11 mission to the orbiting lab for NASA; ordinarily, such crew-rotation flights last about six months – ending a few days after their successors arrive at the ISS, according to Space.com.
Image of Crew-11 members (from left) Oleg Platonov, Mike Fincke, Zena Cardman and Kimiya Yui during training before the launch of Crew-11 courtesy of SpaceX via Space News.
On Jan. 7, NASA announced that it was cancelling a Jan. 8 spacewalk by Cardman and Fincke due to a medical concern involving an ISS crew member; a day later, the agency said it was ending Crew-11 early to address that concern, per Space.com.
NASA has not identified the affected astronaut or provided details about the health issue, citing privacy concerns, but the agency has said that the crew member is stable and that the situation was not one of crisis, per Space.com.
"It is not an emergency de-orbit, even though we always retain that capability, and NASA and our partners train for that routinely," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told reporters during a press conference on Jan. 8.
Rather, the decision was made to end Crew-11 early because “the capability to diagnose and treat this properly does not live on the International Space Station,” per Isaacman.
Th Crew-11 mission lasted 167 days, with 165 days spent aboard the ISS, per Space.com.
