Crew-11 to undock from ISS with astronaut with medical concern

CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — NASA’s Crew-11 will probably be undocking from the International Space Station within the facility’s first medical evacuation after an astronaut suffered a medical episode.

The members of Crew-11 — NASA astronauts Cmdr. Zena Cardman and pilot Michael Fincke, together with mission specialists Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov — will get into SpaceX’s Dragon capsule named Endeavour and undock from the area station’s Harmony module at 5 p.m. ET, Wednesday.

Endeavour will probably be totally autonomous from the second it undocks to the splashdown, which is predicted to occur at 3:40 a.m. ET, Thursday, within the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California.

Though, the crew can take management of the capsule if one thing ought to come up.

When the quartet enters Earth’s environment, there will probably be a collection of parachute deployments that may sluggish the Dragon down from an orbital pace of about 17,500 mph (2,816 kph) to 350 mph (563 kph) to about 16 mph (25 kph) when it ought to softly land within the ocean.

While the crew will stay secure inside, the skin of Dragon will face temperatures of three,500 levels Fahrenheit (1,927 levels Celsius) as soon as it hits Earth’s environment. The spacecraft’s particular shielding and the air-con system will maintain the crew secure and funky.

It just isn’t recognized precisely the place Endeavour’s splashdown will probably be, however it is going to be off California’s coast.

Depending on the place the Dragon will probably be flying over, some folks could hear a sonic growth.

Learn all about sonic booms right here.

Why Crew-11’s mission was lower brief

Not a lot is understood concerning the scenario, besides that final week, one of many Crew-11 members suffered a medical episode, however has since been secure, stated NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman throughout a press convention.

During the press convention, NASA officers stated that whereas that is the primary time the International Space Station has had a medical evacuation, they’d not name this an emergency de-orbit, which might have taken hours to return to Earth.

The medical concern was severe sufficient to cancel a deliberate spacewalk that was set for the morning of Thursday, Jan. 8.

During a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk, Fincke and Cardman had been supposed to put in a modification package and cables for a future rollout of a photo voltaic array.

The Crew-11 crew was supposed to remain on board the International Space Station till February, after they can be relieved of obligation by Crew-12.

Crew-12’s launch may be moved up weeks earlier, however no official date has been given. Originally, that mission’s launch was set for February.

All 4 members of Crew-11 spent about 5 months on the area station. They had been launched on a Falcon 9 rocket in August 2025.