WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The four-member crew aboard the International Space Station has returned to earth on a historic medical evacuation Thursday, a month earlier than planned after one of them experienced a 'serious medical condition.'
NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 mission safely splashed down early Thursday morning in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, concluding a more than five-month mission aboard the International Space Station.
U.S astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov returned to Earth at 12:41 a.m. PST. Teams aboard SpaceX recovery vessels retrieved the spacecraft and its crew shortly after landing, NASA said in a press release.
Following the planned overnight hospital stay, the crew members will return to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and undergo standard postflight reconditioning and evaluations.
'I couldn't be prouder of our astronauts and the teams on the ground at NASA, SpaceX, and across our international partnerships,' said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. 'Their professionalism and focus kept the mission on track, even with an adjusted timeline. Crew-11 completed more than 140 science experiments that advance human exploration'.
Last week, NASA announced its decision to return the agency's SpaceX Crew-11 mission to Earth from the space station earlier than originally planned as teams monitor a medical concern with a crew member aboard the orbital laboratory.
Top officials of the U.S. space agency neither revealed what was the medical issue, nor the identity of the astronaut due to privacy concerns, but said the affected person was stable.
The agency typically refrains from discussing the specifics of health-related matters involving astronauts.
This is the first time in the 25 year long history of the International Space Station and NASA's more than 65 year history that its crew being forced to evacuate early due to medical reasons.
During their 167-day mission, the four crew members traveled nearly 71 million miles and completed more than 2,670 orbits around Earth. Along the way, Crew-11 logged hundreds of hours of research, maintenance, and technology demonstrations.
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