Return shortens the mission by more than a month
A SpaceX capsule carrying a four-member crew home on an emergency return to Earth crashed safely early Wednesday morning in the Pacific Ocean off California.
The Crew Dragon capsule touched down in calm seas off San Diego at around 08:45 GMT, capping a more than 10-hour descent from the International Space Station and a fiery re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, broadcast live on a joint NASA-SpaceX webcast.
The decision, made due to the need for an astronaut to receive medical care, shortens the mission by more than a month.
“The timing of this departure was unexpected,” said NASA astronaut Zena Cardman before the return trip.
“But what didn’t surprise me was how this crew came together like a family, helping each other and looking out for each other,” he added.
The space agency did not identify the astronaut or the health problem, claiming the patient’s privacy, ensuring only that his situation is stable.
The sick astronaut is “stable, safe and receiving good care,” space station commander Mike Fincke said earlier this week on social media.
“This was a deliberate decision to allow appropriate medical assessments to be carried out on the ground, where full diagnostic capability exists,” he added.
The crew of four astronauts arrived at the orbiting laboratory in August, for a stay of at least six months.
The crew consisted of NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, along with Japanese Kimiya Yui and Russian Oleg Platonov.
Fincke and Cardman were scheduled to perform the first spacewalk of the year, to prepare the ground for the future installation of solar panels, which will provide additional power to the space station.
But on January 7, NASA abruptly canceled the spacewalk and later announced the crew’s early return.
Three other astronauts remain aboard the space station: NASA’s Chris Williams and Russians Sergei Mikaev and Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, who were launched in November aboard a Soyuz rocket for an eight-month stay. They must return home in the summer (from the northern hemisphere).
NASA and SpaceX are working to bring forward the launch of a new four-person crew from Florida, currently scheduled for mid-February.
Computer models predicted a medical evacuation from the space station every three years, but NASA has had none in the 65 years of human spaceflight.
The Russians were not so lucky. In 1985, Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Vasyutin contracted a serious infection or related illness aboard the Salyut 7 space station, prompting an early return.
Some other Soviet cosmonauts faced less serious health problems that forced missions to be cut short.
NASA has contracted SpaceX to eventually de-orbit the space station by the end of 2030 or early 2031.
Plans call for safe reentry over the ocean.
