NASA to Rush Astronauts Home after Medical Incident on ISS in Unprecedented Move
NEWS | 12 January 2026
NASA on Thursday announced it would take the extraordinary step of bringing four crewmembers back to Earth from the space station before their official mission end NASA’s Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is coming to an unexpectedly abrupt end. The four astronauts who make up the mission crew will be returned to Earth “within the coming days” after the agency decided to end their stay early because of an undisclosed medical issue. “It is in the best interest of our astronauts to return Crew-11 ahead of their planned departure,” said Jared Isaacman, NASA administrator, during a Thursday press briefing. Agency officials also emphasized that the situation was not an emergency deorbit. A further update is expected within the next 48 hours as to when the crew will depart the station for Earth. The decision marks the first time NASA has opted to end a mission early because of an astronaut’s health—and the first time such an incident has affected the ISS, which has been permanently occupied since November 2000. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. “It’s almost amazing that we’ve maintained the ISS for [almost] 26 years constantly crewed without something like this happening before,” says Jordan Bimm, a space historian at the University of Chicago. A space agency has ended a mission early because of health concerns only twice before. In 1985 Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Vasyutin and his colleagues returned four months ahead of schedule from a mission to the Salyut 7 space station so that he could be hospitalized because of a urological issue. And in 1987 Soviet cosmonaut Aleksandr Laveykin left the Mir space station early after a heart arrhythmia was detected. Crew-11 consists of NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov and Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui. NASA’s policy regarding astronaut privacy leaves it unclear which astronaut is affected. Their condition was repeatedly described as stable, but Isaacman did call the situation “a serious medical condition.” NASA’s chief health and medical officer, James Polk, said the situation was not an emergency and was unrelated to the affected astronaut’s work on the station. But the astronaut’s issue could not be fully diagnosed and addressed with the limited medical equipment on the ISS—hence, the early return. Whatever the issue is, it appeared to arise quickly. On January 7 NASA officials reported that the ISS crew had completed preparations for a spacewalk that Fincke and Cardman were due to execute the next day. Just four hours later, the agency delayed the spacewalk, citing a medical situation onboard the space station while noting that the astronaut’s condition was stable. As a matter of routine, astronauts are trained to deal with medical issues that arise on the ISS, said Amit Kshatriya, NASA’s associate administrator. “Yesterday was a textbook example of that training in action,” he said. The agency’s response would not have been any different had one of the current astronauts in orbit been a medical doctor, Isaacman said. The four astronauts of Crew-11 arrived at the ISS on August 1, 2025, after launching on a SpaceX Crew Dragon. The crew’s stint in space was expected to continue through mid-February 2026, a standard six-and-a-half month ISS tenure for a SpaceX crew. To get the affected astronaut medical care on the ground, NASA must bring the entire crew and their vehicle home because there are no spare crew-ready capsules stationed at the ISS and NASA prefers to avoid ever having astronauts in orbit with no ride home. Also currently onboard the orbital laboratory are NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev. The trio arrived in November 2025 onboard a Russian Soyuz vessel and will remain on the ISS. NASA is still finalizing when Crew-11 will return to Earth—considering standard factors such as weather conditions around where the capsule is expected to splash down in the ocean. The agency is also determining whether to move up the launch of the next mission, Crew-12. That is another SpaceX-operated mission that is currently set to arrive in mid-February. Crew-12 consists of NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European astronaut Sophie Adenot and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. Although the incident is a shocking first for NASA and the ISS, it perhaps shouldn’t be, given the degree to which humans have already made leaps in exploring space. And it will only become more frequent in the future. “This seems abnormal now, but it is a preview of what will be the new normal if humans go into space in greater numbers,” Bimm says. “People will get sick, and sometimes contingencies will have to be exercised.” Editor’s Note (1/9/26): This article was edited after posting to correct the description of previous cases in which missions were ended early because of health concerns. The text was previously updated on January 8 to include additional information.
Author: Claire Cameron. Meghan Bartels.
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