NASA’s Crew-11 mission successfully landed this Thursday in the ocean off the coast of San Diego (California, USA), after an early return from the International Space Station due to a medical emergency that affected one of its four crew members.
The SpaceX Dragon capsule, which undocked from the space station on Wednesday at 22:20 GMT (17:20 EST), landed gently at 8:41 GMT (3:41 EST), the US space agency confirmed in its live broadcast with the message: “Welcome home, Crew-11!”
Ditching in the ocean
The four astronauts, Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, from NASA; Kimiya Yui, from the Japanese space agency JAXA, and Oleg Platonov, from the Russian space agency Roscosmos, returned to Earth after a trip of almost eleven hours and spending 165 days in the orbital laboratory and 167 in space.
With the help of four parachutes, the capsule managed to decelerate and land safely in a particularly calm ocean where recovery vessels were waiting to secure the Dragon and transfer the astronauts to dry land, including the sick crew member, who is stable, and whom NASA has not identified for privacy reasons.
After landing exactly on schedule (8:41 GMT) and performing what NASA said was “a perfect reentry,” the crew remained in the capsule, which was recovered and transferred to a ship by members of the recovery team, where the astronauts will undergo an initial medical examination before being transferred to the ground by helicopter.
The entire process, which was even followed closely by a group of dolphins, was carried out with “excellent” marine conditions that facilitated the work of NASA operators.
An early return
On January 8, NASA announced its decision to bring forward the end of the mission and bring the four crew members back to Earth, one of them affected by a medical problem about which no further details have been given, except that he is stable.
It is the first time that an ISS mission in permanent operation has returned early due to the health of one of its members because, although the station has advanced medical equipment, complex diagnoses must be carried out on the ground.
The mission that has brought forward its return “a few weeks” compared to the original schedule – it contemplated a stay of six months in orbit – has forced the cancellation of the first spacewalk of this year that was scheduled for this Thursday.
After the departure of Crew-11, three crew members remain on board the ISS, under the command of Russian Roscosmos Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, who has assumed command as commander of the orbital laboratory, replacing Fincke.
