A four-person NASA mission, cut short because of a medical problem affecting one of its members, brought its crew safely back to Earth on Thursday, according to the space agency.
The crew members are “all safe and in good spirits,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a news conference after the astronauts’ arrival.
“The crew member of concern is doing fine,” he said, without naming the person or providing details about their medical condition. But, he added, “obviously we took this action because it was a serious medical condition, right. So in that respect it was a serious situation.”
The SpaceX Dragon capsule ferrying the members of Crew-11 splashed down in waters off San Diego about 3:40 a.m. Eastern time and, shortly after, the capsule was hoisted onto a recovery boat so the astronauts could exit.
It was the first time NASA prematurely ended a space mission because of a health problem affecting a crew member.
NASA astronaut Mike Fincke was the first off the capsule, with live footage of the arrival showing him giving the recovery team a smile and thumbs-up before he was taken on a wheeled stretcher for standard medical checks.
He was followed by the rest of the crew — fellow NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. They had been in space for about five months conducting scientific research.
All four crew members emerged from the capsule with smiles, waves and handshakes for the recovery team. The crew will be taken to a hospital for medical checks, before flying to Houston to reunite with their families.
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 reported.
The Crew-11 members were scheduled to stay in space until mid-February. But they cut short their sojourn at the International Space Station to allow the affected crew member to be 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.
Crew-12 is expected to launch in mid-February.
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