A four-person team aboard the International Space Station will come home several weeks ahead of schedule following a medical emergency affecting one crew member.
NASA confirmed last week that a serious health issue prompted the decision, but declined to release details to protect the individual’s privacy. Agency officials said the crew member is currently stable.
At a press conference, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the ISS does not have the capability to treat the condition on board, so an accelerated return was necessary. NASA described the move as the first evacuation of its kind in the station’s nearly 30-year history.
The returning crew consists of U.S. astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Finke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. They are scheduled to depart the station aboard their SpaceX Dragon crew capsule Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. EST, with splashdown off the California coast expected around 3:40 a.m. Thursday.
A separate three-person crew will remain on the station. NASA said it is coordinating with SpaceX to advance the next crew rotation, which had been planned for no earlier than February 15.
Edited by: Carla Bleiker