The four-person crew from NASA‘s SpaceX Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station are back home, after a medical emergency forced the crew to leave the ISS a month early.
NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov splashed down off the coast of San Diego early Thursday morning after a nearly 11-hour journey.
“On behalf of SpaceX and NASA, welcome home, Crew-11,” mission controllers radioed to the astronauts moments after their Dragon capsule hit the water.
Their return was the first time in the space station’s 25-year history that a mission was cut short because of a medical issue.
Because of medical privacy concerns, NASA has not disclosed the identity of the affected crew member or given any details about the medical incident.