In Unprecedented Move, NASA to Rush Astronauts Home after Medical Incident on ISS

"NASA's Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is coming to an unexpectedly abrupt end. The four astronauts who make up the mission crew will be returned to Earth within the coming days after the agency decided to end their stay early because of an undisclosed medical issue. It is in the best interest of our astronauts to return Crew-11 ahead of their planned departure, said Jared Isaacman, NASA administrator, during a Thursday press briefing."

"Agency officials also emphasized that the situation was not an emergency deorbit. A further update is expected within the next 48 hours as to when the crew will depart the station for Earth. The decision marks the first time NASA has opted to end a mission early because of an astronaut's healthand the first time such an incident has affected the ISS, which has been permanently occupied since November 2000."

"It's almost amazing that we've maintained the ISS for [almost] 26 years constantly crewed without something like this happening before, says Jordan Bimm, a space historian at the University of Chicago. The only other time on record that any space agency has ended a mission early because of health concerns was in 1985. At that time, Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Vasyutin and his colleagues returned four months ahead of schedule from a mission to the Salyut 7 space station so that he could be hospitalized because of a urological issue."

NASA ended the Crew-11 stay on the International Space Station early because of an undisclosed medical issue affecting one crew member. The four-person crew — Mike Fincke, Zena Cardman, Oleg Platonov and Kimiya Yui — will return to Earth within days, with a departure time update expected within 48 hours. Officials described the affected astronaut's condition as stable and emphasized that the maneuver was not an emergency deorbit. NASA's privacy policy leaves the specific astronaut unidentified. The decision is the first time NASA has cut an ISS mission short for health reasons; a similar case occurred in 1985 on Salyut 7.

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