A four-person NASA mission cut short due to a medical issue affecting one of its members returned to Earth on Thursday, according to the space agency.
The SpaceX Dragon capsule ferrying the members of Crew-11 splashed down in waters off San Diego about 3:40 a.m. Eastern time, NASA said. This was the first time NASA prematurely ended a space mission because of a health issue affecting a crew member.
The crew — NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui — had been in space for about five months, conducting scientific research.
Coming back to Earth can be disorienting and nauseating for even the most experienced astronauts, as they adapt to the sudden return of gravity, The Washington Post has previously reported.
The Crew-11 members were scheduled to stay in space until mid-February. But they ended their sojourn at the International Space Station to allow the affected crew member to get examined at a facility on Earth, where there is more extensive medical hardware and where the person can be looked at without the challenges of microgravity.
NASA has not identified the affected crew member or specified the problem, but has said that the person is “absolutely stable.”
It was the first spaceflight for Cardman, from Williamsburg, Virginia, who at the time of selection was pursuing a doctorate in geosciences at Pennsylvania State University. It was also the first space journey for Platonov, a graduate of Russia’s Krasnodar air force academy. The trip marked the fourth spaceflight for Fincke, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, and the second for Yui, a veteran of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force.
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