Astronauts to leave space station for medical evac. Photos of Crew-11
NASA and SpaceX will oversee 4 astronauts’ return to Earth from the space station due to a medical issue. They leave Jan. 14, 2026, and land a day later.
Eric LagattaJennifer Sangalang USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida
Godspeed, Crew-11!
Four astronauts are hours away from leaving the International Space Station early to head home to Earth.
After one of the Crew-11 astronauts experienced what NASA called a "medical concern," the space agency made the decision to cut the mission short and return all four of them to Earth. Citing privacy, NASA did not specify the nature of the medical issue, nor identify the crew member, who is now stable.
The departure marks the first time in the space station's 25-year history that a crew on the orbital outpost has cut a mission short after one of them experienced an undisclosed health issue. NASA has emphasized that the there is no emergency, but that the problem one of the astronauts experienced requires monitoring on the ground.
All seven of the astronauts living and working on the ISS appeared on camera Monday, Jan. 12, during a change-of-command ceremony beamed to Earth.
Three of them will remain behind. The others, part of a joint NASA and SpaceX mission known as Crew-11, will undock Wednesday, Jan. 14, ahead of a parachute-assisted water landing in the Pacific Ocean – ending their mission about a month early. Crew-11 faces a 10-hour journey through space and Earth's atmosphere, culminating in a water landing around 3:41 a.m. ET Thursday, Jan. 15, off the coast of California.
What is SpaceX Crew-11? Who are the astronauts of NASA Crew-11?
As the name suggests, Crew-11 is NASA and SpaceX's 11th science expedition to the International Space Station.
The missions, most of which last about six months, are contracted under NASA's commercial crew program. The program allows the U.S. space agency to pay SpaceX to launch and transport astronauts and cargo to orbit aboard the company's Dragon vehicles, freeing up NASA to focus on its Artemis lunar program and other spaceflight missions, including future crewed voyages to Mars.
The four astronauts selected for the Crew-11 mission reached the orbital laboratory after an Aug. 1, 2025, launch, replacing the Crew-10 astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams.
SpaceX uses its Falcon 9 rocket – one of the most active in the world – to launch the crew missions from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The astronauts themselves ride a Dragon crew capsule – the only U.S. spacecraft capable of carrying astronauts to and from the space station – that separates from the rocket in orbit.
Crew-11 includes:
NASA astronaut Zena Cardman
NASA astronaut Mike Fincke
Kimiya Yui, a Japanese astronaut of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Oleg Platonov, a Russian Roscosmos cosmonaut
