On Thursday, four NASA astronauts splashed down safely in the Gulf of Mexico. Their return from the International Space Station (ISS) was cut short after a crew emergency forced their departure early. Mike Fincke, Zena Cardman, Kimiya Yui, and Oleg Platonov disembarked the Dragon Endeavour at approximately 01:30 local time, concluding their mission that began on August 1.
Having spent six-and-a-half months aboard the ISS, the astronauts’ time on Earth was soon running out. When one crew member became sick, they were forced to come back a month early. The decision to evacuate early was done out of an abundance of caution to protect the health and safety of the entire crew.
Once detached from the ISS, Crew 11 began an 11-hour journey home. The Dragon Endeavour returned safely to splashdown off the coast of California, wrapping up their mission in style! The crew’s return is still a major milestone. One, it foretells the many psychological and physiological challenges astronauts will face while living long-term in space.
Mike Fincke is a veteran astronaut who’s flown three missions. His career aboard ISS has contributed to many innovative models and projects that will build the next phase of exploration. Zena Cardman, Kimiya Yui, and Oleg Platonov made equally important contributions to the advancement of scientific knowledge through the experiments they carried out during their time aboard. Their work on the ISS was supposed to pave the way for amazing leaps and discoveries in our understanding of biology, physics, just about every field really.
The abrupt departure serves as a reminder of the capriciousness of space exploration. Like NASA, other space agencies place an immense focus on crew safety and are trained to pivot at a moment’s notice when faced with unexpected medical emergencies. Underlined even more by the return of Crew 11 is the fact that human spaceflight is inherently dangerous.