{"id":409297,"date":"2026-01-14T19:43:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T19:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/409297\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T19:43:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T19:43:14","slug":"4-nasa-crew-11-astronauts-to-depart-iss-leaving-behind-just-3-crewmates-to-staff-the-orbiting-lab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/409297\/","title":{"rendered":"4 NASA Crew-11 astronauts to depart ISS, leaving behind just 3 crewmates to staff the orbiting lab"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Four astronauts are about to make an abrupt exit from the International Space Station amid a health concern<\/a> \u2014 and their unprecedented early departure will leave behind a bare-bones staff to look after the outpost.\n <\/p>\n

\n When the crew boards the SpaceX capsule that will bring them home, only three people will remain on the orbiting laboratory: Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev of Russia and NASA astronaut Chris Williams.\n <\/p>\n

\n The US space agency will livestream the departure of the SpaceX Crew capsule on NASA+<\/a> starting at 4:45 p.m. ET Wednesday, with the capsule set to undock from the space station around 5 p.m. ET.\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s a less-than-ideal scenario. NASA has repeatedly signaled that keeping the ISS fully staffed is a top priority, as the agency aims to maximize the amount of scientific research it can conduct on the aging station before it\u2019s permanently retired early next decade.\n <\/p>\n

\n NASA\u2019s new administrator, Jared Isaacman<\/a>, made the decision last week to bring the four-person crew home early when the agency canceled a January 8 spacewalk slated to be carried out by American astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cFor over 60 years, NASA\u2019s set the standard for safety and security in crewed spaceflight,\u201d Isaacman said during a news conference last week. \u201cIn these endeavors, including the 25 years of continuous human presence on board the International Space Station, the health and the well-being of our astronauts is always and will be our highest priority.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Fincke and Cardman, along with astronaut Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, are part of the Crew-11 mission that\u2019s leaving the space station. NASA did not say which crew member is experiencing a medical concern \u2014 nor did the space agency provide any details about the nature of the condition, citing privacy concerns. However, NASA has said the affected astronaut is in stable condition.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cEveryone on board is stable, safe, and well cared for,\u201d Fincke confirmed in a statement posted to LinkedIn<\/a>. \u201cThis was a deliberate decision to allow the right medical evaluations to happen on the ground, where the full range of diagnostic capability exists. It\u2019s the right call, even if it\u2019s a bit bittersweet.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The Crew-11 team is slated to splash down in the Pacific Ocean aboard the Crew Dragon capsule around 3:40 a.m. ET Thursday.\n <\/p>\n

\n Meanwhile, NASA is working to expedite the launch of a replacement crew, called Crew-12, which originally had been slated for mid-February.\n <\/p>\n

\n The space station hasn\u2019t had such a small crew on board in years. However, during a news conference last week, Amit Kshatriya, NASA\u2019s associate administrator, noted that it\u2019s not unprecedented.\n <\/p>\n

\n Before SpaceX began routinely flying its Crew Dragon capsule on staffing rotation missions to the space station in 2020, NASA had to purchase seats on Russia\u2019s Soyuz capsule for rides to the outpost for nearly a decade after the Space Shuttle was retired in 2011.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe crew on board, both Russian and American, are well trained to operate in the environment that they\u2019re in, and can operate the nominal systems, the nominal research, per the plan, until their crewmates arrive,\u201d Kshatriya said, using the spaceflight term \u201cnominal\u201d to refer to normal operations.\n <\/p>\n

\n Still, the remaining crew members will likely need to leave some tasks unattended. For example, Kshatriya acknowledged, the trio will not be able to carry out the spacewalk that Fincke and Cardman had been slated to execute.\n <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n The American duo had been tasked with exiting the space station to prepare its exterior for the installation of new solar panels, which provide the outpost with power.\n <\/p>\n

\n Delays installing the solar panels are not expected to create any urgent issues as the new hardware was intended to give the space station a power boost for expanding activity on board, Kshatriya said.\n <\/p>\n

\n As things stand, the outpost does not need additional power for baseline operations, and there\u2019s \u201cplenty of margin,\u201d Kshatriya noted.\n <\/p>\n

\n Still, attempting to maintain the space station with only three crew members on board does have its challenges and risks, according to Garret Reisman, a former NASA astronaut who himself was part of a three-person crew alongside two Russians at the orbital outpost more than a decade ago.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf I was going to put my finger on one thing that is significantly increased risk \u2014 it would be if something breaks on the outside,\u201d Reisman told CNN in a Tuesday phone interview.\n <\/p>\n

\n For example, should an issue arise on the exterior of the US side of the space station \u2014 such as an electrical switching unit suddenly breaking \u2014 Williams would not be able to conduct a spacewalk to fix the issue on his own.\n <\/p>\n

\n Likely, one of his Russian colleagues would have to use an American suit and attempt to aid him on such an excursion, possibly with little training.\n <\/p>\n

\n Such an emergency scenario is highly unlikely, Reisman noted, but it highlights why NASA typically does not like to bring an ISS crew home until a replacement crew is already in place.\n <\/p>\n

\n The US agency has long signaled that it wants to avoid leaving the space station understaffed for a variety of other reasons.\n <\/p>\n

\n Isaacman, a billionaire and private astronaut, has signaled that he considers novel research on the orbiting laboratory to be an urgent priority. Such work, Isaacman has said, can help pave the way for new, commercial space stations that can replace the craft.\n <\/p>\n

\n NASA has long hoped that private-sector companies would build space stations in low-Earth orbit so that the space agency can focus on its efforts exploring deeper into the solar system.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI, like a lot of space enthusiasts, dream of the day where we have multiple commercial space stations in low-Earth orbit,\u201d Isaacman said during a confirmation hearing<\/a> in December. \u201cBut I think in order for that to be a financially viable model, we have to absolutely maximize the remaining life of the International Space Station \u2014 get the highest potential science and research to the space.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"NASA<\/p>\n

\n NASA says a robust crew presence is crucial for getting the most value and productivity onboard the orbiting laboratory \u2014 which costs about $3 billion per year to operate.\n <\/p>\n

\n The federal agency has in prior years taken great pains to ensure the space station has about seven or more astronauts on board at all times.\n <\/p>\n

\n For example, in 2024, two NASA astronauts were slated to spend just a week on the space station. But when NASA found that their capsule malfunctioned and would not be safe for the return trip, the space agency opted to leave the duo \u2014 astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams<\/a> \u2014 at the outpost for nine months in order to maintain staffing levels.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cOperating ISS is a complicated task and has been for the past 25 years,\u201d Kshatriya said during last week\u2019s news conference. \u201cWhat we are reminded of every day is the unforgiving nature of human spaceflight.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n As for Chris Williams, he may have a lonelier time with the entire US portion of the space station all to himself.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s nice to have another American, but Chris spent a lot of time with his Russian crewmates during training, and I\u2019m sure they\u2019ve got a good relationship,\u201d Reisman said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Relations between the US and Russia have grown notably tenser in the decade since Reisman spent months alone with his Russian crewmates, he noted.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cBut by and large, they\u2019re kind of ignoring the geopolitical situation. It\u2019s kind of like Thanksgiving dinner: You just don\u2019t talk about politics or religion,\u201d Reisman said with a laugh.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four astronauts are about to make an abrupt exit from the International Space Station amid a health concern…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409298,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-409297","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}