4 astronauts return to Earth after medical issue forces early ISS exit

(CNN) — Four astronauts aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule splashed down early Thursday in the Pacific Ocean, ending a weeklong effort to get an unnamed crew member home to evaluate a medical issue.

“NASA was ready. The team responded quickly and professionally, as did the teams across the agency, working closely with our commercial partners and executed a very safe return,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said during a news conference Thursday morning. “This is exactly why we train, and this is NASA at its finest.”

The crew left the International Space Station at 5:20 p.m. ET Wednesday aboard the spacecraft for a 10-hour journey home, gradually lowering in altitude and preparing to reenter Earth’s atmosphere.

The astronauts, part of a mission called Crew-11, landed just after 3:40 a.m ET Thursday off the coast of San Diego and were greeted by the sight of a few dolphins swimming nearby.

The crew then boarded a recovery ship that was able to haul their SpaceX capsule out of the ocean after splashdown. As is routine when astronauts return from long-duration stays on the ISS, gurneys were used to assist the crew with mobility as they readjust to life with gravity.

All four crew members were seen smiling, waving and offering thumbs up as they exited the spacecraft.

The astronauts are now expected to undergo routine medical checks, which is common for all people returning from space.

It’s still unclear which crew member is experiencing a health concern, though all four astronauts were to be transported to a hospital — which is not a common step post-flight.

“We want to take advantage of resources on Earth to provide the best care possible. NASA maintains relationships with local hospitals to ensure readiness for any post-landing needs, and for this return, we are utilizing that option as part of our normal preparedness,” NASA spokesperson Leah Cheshier said during the Thursday webcast of the event.

NASA has not disclosed the name of the affected astronaut or the nature of their condition other than to say the person has been in stable condition and did not require special arrangements for the return trip. Typically, medical information is kept confidential to ensure an astronaut’s privacy.

During the news conference at Johnson Space Center in Houston following splashdown, Isaacman didn’t offer any additional details on the medical issue but said, “The crew member of concern is doing fine.”

NASA made the decision to bring the Crew-11 astronauts home last week after the space agency announced it was canceling a planned spacewalk due to a medical issue.

“This is not an injury that occurred in the pursuit of operations,” said Dr. James Polk, chief health and medical officer at NASA headquarters, during a January 8 news conference.

Rather, the problem relates to having a “medical issue in the difficult areas of microgravity,” Polk added, noting that NASA wanted to bring the astronaut home to make use of diagnostic tools. While the International Space Station does have a suite of medical equipment, it does not have all the tools a typical emergency room would have.

NASA’s Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman would have carried out the spacewalk that was canceled — both are members of the Crew-11 team. The duo is returning home alongside crewmates Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov of Roscosmos.

Returning to Earth

The journey home can take a toll on astronauts’ bodies; the g-forces experienced as a Crew Dragon capsule dives back toward Earth can reach more than five times the force of Earth’s gravity.

The mission’s final stretch is also among the most dangerous as the Crew Dragon capsule reentered the atmosphere at more than 22 times the speed of sound. The process is known to heat the exterior of the returning spacecraft to more than 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,926 degrees Celsius), creating a buildup of plasma and triggering a minutes-long communication blackout.

Who is left on board the space station?

Crew-11 originally had been slated to depart the space station in mid-February, only after a replacement team — the Crew-12 astronauts — would have arrived to take over operations.

The Crew-11 astronauts’ premature departure leaves the football field-size space station with three staff members: two Russian cosmonauts, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, as well as NASA astronaut Chris Williams, who traveled to the orbiting laboratory as part of a rideshare agreement with Russia.

The situation is less than ideal. NASA has routinely indicated that a robust crew presence on the ISS is crucial for getting the most value and productivity onboard the orbiting laboratory — which costs about $3 billion per year.

Leaving a skeleton crew on the station could strain operations. For example, if hardware on the outside of the US-controlled portion of the space station were to break, Williams might have to enlist the help of a cosmonaut to fix the issue.

Kud-Sverchkov does have some training for using NASA spacesuits, said Joel Montalbano, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for space operations, during the Thursday news briefing.

“We can get them training in real time if we need their help on certain activities. So I believe we’re covered and ready,” he said.

Montalbano also emphasizes that the odds of such an emergency are extremely low, and the space station should have enough backup hardware to ensure that the crew can wait for additional astronauts to arrive on the Crew-12 mission in the next few weeks before conducting any necessary spacewalks.

The-CNN-Wire
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