Four astronauts returned safely to Earth early Thursday after an undisclosed serious medical condition affecting one of them forced their mission to the International Space Station to end a few weeks early.
Their SpaceX capsule splashed down in the Pacific off California, capping a more than 10-hour descent from the space station and a hot re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere.
It was the first time NASA shortened an ISS crew’s rotation due to a medical emergency.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft, named Endeavor, landed by parachute in calm waters off San Diego around 12:45 a.m. PST (08:45 GMT). The end of the abbreviated mission was broadcast live via a NASA-SpaceX webcast.
Moments later, several dolphins could be seen swimming near the capsule, their dorsal fins breaking the ocean surface, as the craft floated gently upright in the water.
In a radio transmission to SpaceX’s flight control center near Los Angeles, Endeavor’s commander, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, 38, was heard saying: “It’s good to be home.”
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She was accompanied on the return trip by American astronaut Mike Fincke, 58, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, 55, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, 39.
In less than an hour, SpaceX recovery teams secured the still-scarred capsule and hoisted it to the deck of a recovery ship, then helped the astronauts exit the ship for their first fresh air in nearly 24 weeks.
Each crew member, still in their black and white space suits with helmets, smiled and gave a thumbs up as they exited, being helped to their feet. It was not obvious to the naked eye which of them was sick.
Unable to support their own weight on Earth after spending months in microgravity, the four were assisted onto special stretchers and escorted to an onboard medical station for routine checks at sea. They would later be transferred to a local hospital for additional medical examinations, SpaceX reported.
SERIOUS MEDICAL CONDITION
The decision to bring the four back early was announced on January 8, with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman noting that one of the astronauts was facing a “serious medical condition” that required immediate attention from doctors on the ground. Isaacman was also present at mission control during Thursday’s splashdown.
NASA officials have not identified the affected crew member or described the nature of the medical problem, citing privacy requirements.
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Fincke, a retired Air Force colonel who has already logged five space missions, and Cardman, a rookie astronaut and geobiologist, had been scheduled to conduct a more than six-hour spacewalk last week to install equipment outside the station. The spacewalk was canceled on Jan. 7 because of what NASA called at the time a “medical concern” with an astronaut.
James Polk, NASA’s director of Health and Medicine, later said that the medical emergency did not involve “an injury that occurred during the conduct of operations.”
As the 11th regular ISS crew launched into orbit by SpaceX, Cardman, Fincke, Yui and Platonov arrived at the space station following a launch from Florida in August. They left Wednesday afternoon on a 10½-hour return flight, capping a 167-day mission.
The return from orbit involved a fall through Earth’s atmosphere that generated frictional heat that raised the temperature of the capsule’s exterior to 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,900 degrees Celsius).
Astronauts’ spacesuits, fitted with special ventilation systems, are designed to keep them cool while the cabin heats up.
Live infrared video of the splashdown showed two sets of parachutes deploying from the nose of the free-falling capsule, slowing its descent speed to about 15 miles per hour (25 km/h) before gently touching the water.
Crew-12 is expected to blast off to the space station in mid-February with four more astronauts. Meanwhile, the orbiting laboratory remains occupied by NASA astronaut Christopher Williams and two cosmonauts who traveled to the ISS aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in November.
With information from Reuters.
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