NASA ends Crew-11 astronaut mission a month early

NASA has decided to bring the Crew-11 astronauts home a month earlier than initially planned due to a “medical concern” with one of them. This is the first time in its history that the space agency has aborted a mission due to a medical issue, but it has not identified the crew member or disclosed the exact situation and its severity. The agency is aiming for a return date of no earlier than January 14, with an exact timetable depending on the weather. If NASA’s original plan comes to fruition, the crew will crash land off the coast of California around 3:40 a.m. on January 15.

The agency previously postponed an International Space Station (ISS) spacewalk scheduled for January 8, citing a medical issue with a crew member that emerged the day before. NASA health and medical officer James “JD” Polk said the affected astronaut was “absolutely stable” and that this was not an emergency evacuation. The ISS has a “robust suite of medical equipment” on board, he said, but not enough for a full workup to determine a diagnosis. Without a proper diagnosis, NASA does not know whether the astronaut’s health could be negatively affected by the environment aboard the ISS. This is why the agency is exercising caution.

Crew 11 departed for the space station on August 1 and was scheduled to return to Earth around February 20. After leaving the station, only three people will remain: two cosmonauts and an astronaut who will be in charge of all the experiments currently being carried out in the orbiting laboratory. The team’s replacement, Crew-12, was supposed to go to the ISS in mid-February, but NASA plans to send the astronauts to the station sooner than that.

Updated, January 10, 2025, 5:15 a.m. ET: This story has been updated to include Crew-11’s tentative return date.