Overview
- The returning crew includes Mike Fincke, Zena Cardman, Oleg Platonov and Kimiya Yui, traveling aboard SpaceX’s Dragon capsule.
- Dragon departed the station on Wednesday with splashdown targeted off the California coast at about 08:40 GMT on Thursday.
- NASA calls the move non-emergency and precautionary, citing a persistent risk and diagnostic uncertainty, and says the affected astronaut remains stable with identity and medical details withheld.
- This is the first time the International Space Station has sent a crew home early for a medical reason in its 25-plus years of operation.
- The station remains staffed by three people — one American and two Russians who arrived on Soyuz in November — and NASA says the Crew-12 rotation, which includes Sophie Adenot, could launch earlier than planned.