Four astronauts have safely returned to Earth after a "serious" medical issue necessitated an emergency evacuation from the International Space Station (ISS), BBC News reported. The complication forced the team to cut their mission short by a month.
This marks the first time since the station's 1998 launch that a health crisis has triggered an astronaut evacuation, according to the outlet. Crew 11 completed a splashdown off the California coast after a transit lasting nearly eleven hours.
Authority over the orbital outpost has been transferred to Russian cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and two colleagues who remain aloft, BBC News noted. NASA confirmed that the abbreviated timeline for Crew-11 resulted from a medical problem affecting one member. While the agency stated the individual was in stable condition, it withheld their identity and specific diagnosis, the report added.
The group – consisting of Astronaut Mike Fincke, Zena Cardman, Japan's Kimiya Yui, and cosmonaut Oleg Platonov – docked on August 1 for a planned six-and-a-half-month stay, BBC News stated. They were originally scheduled to return in mid-February.
Operations shifted last week when a spacewalk involving Fincke and Cardman was abruptly cancelled. Hours later, NASA disclosed that a crew member had become ill, BBC News reported.
"It's bittersweet," Fincke remarked as he handed command to Kud-Sverchjov on Monday, according to the report. In a social media update, he assured the public that the crew was "stable, safe, and well cared for".
Orbiting 250 miles above the planet, the ISS completes 16 revolutions daily at 17,500 miles per hour, BBC News explained. Run by five agencies, it conducts research on microgravity's effects on biological systems. While the facility stocks medical equipment and crews receive basic training, BBC News highlighted that no physician is present on board.
The early exit leaves a reduced team of three – NASA's Chris Williams and cosmonauts Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev – until four new astronauts arrive next month, the outlet reported.
"Despite all the changes and all the difficulties, we are going to do our job onboard ISS, performing all the scientific tasks, maintenance tasks here, whatever happens," Kud-Sverchkov declared, sealing the transition with a group hug, per BBC News.
This incident has no precedent in the 26-year history of the permanently inhabited station, the report emphasized. Only two previous missions were curtailed by health issues. In 1985, Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Vasyutin left Salyut 7 early due to a urological condition, BBC News noted. Two years later, a heart arrhythmia forced Soviet cosmonaut Aleksandr Laveykin to depart the Mir station.
As spaceflight evolves to include tourism and permanent settlements on the Moon or Mars, industry experts told BBC News that doctors will become essential crew members.
