CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Jan 14, 2026, 18:14 EST
- SpaceX’s Crew Dragon undocked from the ISS on Wednesday for an early return
- NASA said a crew member has a medical concern and is stable, but gave no details
- Splashdown is targeted off California early Thursday
A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying four astronauts undocked from the International Space Station on Wednesday, starting an early trip back to Earth after a crew member developed what officials have described as a serious medical condition. (Reuters)
The return is unusual for a routine crew rotation and puts fresh attention on the health risks of long stays in orbit, even as NASA leans more on commercial spacecraft for transport to and from the station. NASA has said the crew member is stable, but it will not disclose details for medical privacy reasons. (NASA)
NASA said the capsule left the station at 5:20 p.m. EST and was heading for a Pacific Ocean landing off California. It plans to resume live coverage ahead of splashdown, with a “deorbit burn” — a firing of the spacecraft’s engines to slow it and drop it out of orbit — before re-entry. (NASA)
Live video showed the spacecraft backing away from the station as both vehicles circled about 260 miles (418 km) above Earth, with recovery teams watching weather and sea conditions in the landing zone.
The crew includes NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. “Our timing of this departure is unexpected,” Cardman said before the return trip, adding that the crew “came together as a family.” Fincke, the station’s outgoing commander, said the ailing crewmate was “stable, safe and well cared for,” and called the early return “a deliberate decision” to get “the full range of diagnostic capability” on the ground. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency’s “highest priority” was astronaut health. (AP News)
Sky News, tracking the return live, called it the first time in the space station’s 25-year history that a mission has been cut short for a medical incident, with Houston flight controllers clearing the spacecraft to depart. (Sky News)
The episode underlines how dependent NASA has become on SpaceX’s Dragon for U.S. crewed access to orbit, with Boeing’s Starliner still working through problems that have disrupted NASA’s plans in the past.
For now, the station will operate with a reduced crew as the returning astronauts head into medical checks after recovery. NASA and SpaceX have said the timing of splashdown can shift, depending on conditions in the Pacific.
But there is a narrow margin. Rough seas could force a later landing, and NASA’s refusal to name the affected astronaut or the illness leaves little outside scrutiny of how fast the situation could change.
If the landing goes as planned, recovery teams will pull the capsule aboard a ship and begin post-flight medical assessments before the astronauts are flown onward for further evaluation.
