Californians were left fearing an earthquake had struck when they felt a sonic boom as NASA’s Crew-11 re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere aboard their SpaceX Dragon, which was returning early from a mission to the International Space Station (ISS) due to an urgent medical issue with one of the astronauts.

Google searches for an earthquake spiked in California around the time of the re-entry in the early hours of Thursday morning local time, as social media users reported hearing a sonic boom. SpaceX guided the capsule to a middle-of-the-night splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego, less than 11 hours after the astronauts exited the ISS.

Officials have refused to identify the astronaut who had the health problem or explain what happened, citing medical privacy. While the astronaut was stable in orbit, NASA wanted them back on Earth as soon as possible to receive proper care and diagnostic testing. NASA has said it was not an emergency, however.

It was an unexpected finish to a mission that began in August and left the orbiting lab with only one American and two Russians on board. NASA and SpaceX said they would try to move up the launch of a fresh crew of four; liftoff is currently targeted for mid-February.

This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow. 

This article includes reporting by The Associated Press.

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