Crew-11 To Begin Return Home on Wednesday

Today NASA announced that Crew-11 will begin its return to Earth from the International Space Station on Wednesday, January 14. The unexpected early departure is due to a medical condition afflicting one of the crew members. NASA declines to say what it is or which astronaut is affected for privacy reasons, but the crew is returning about a month earlier than anticipated.

On January 7, NASA said a planned spacewalk the next day was being postponed because of a “medical concern with a crew member.”  A few hours later, just after midnight yesterday, January 8, it added that an early return for Crew-11 was under consideration. By 5:00 pm ET yesterday, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman was telling reporters he’d decided to bring the crew home early. He stressed it wasn’t an emergency, but a “controlled medical evacuation” and would follow standard procedures for departure, reentry, splashdown and recovery.

This evening NASA spelled out the plans for undocking on January 14 at 5:00 pm ET and splashdown at 3:40 am ET on January 15. A post-splashdown news conference will follow. Per NASA’s press release, this is the plan.

Wednesday, Jan. 14

3 p.m. – Hatch closure coverage begins

3:30 p.m. – Hatch closing

4:45 p.m. – Undocking coverage begins

5 p.m. – Undocking

Thursday, Jan. 15

2:15 a.m. – Return coverage begins

2:50 a.m. – Deorbit burn

3:40 a.m. – Splashdown

5:45 a.m. – Return to Earth media news conference

Crew-11 launched on August 1, 2025 for a nominal six-month tour aboard the ISS, returning in February 2026 after the arrival of their replacements on Crew-12.  Crew-11 is composed of Commander Zena Cardman (NASA), Pilot Mike Fincke (NASA), and Mission Specialists Kimiya Yui (JAXA) and Oleg Platonov (Roscosmos).

NASA is assessing whether they can move up the launch of Crew-12, currently targeted for mid-February, but at a press conference yesterday appeared comfortable with having just one NASA astronaut, Chris Williams, aboard to operate the U.S. segment.  Williams is part of the Soyuz MS-28 crew that arrived in November along with Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikaev. He’ll have the assistance of his two Russian colleagues and ground support teams.

The U.S. and Russian ISS segments are interdependent so at least one person from each country must be aboard to operate the space station. NASA and Roscosmos include a crew member from each other’s country on every launch exactly for this type of situation.

The ISS is a partnership among the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, and 11 European countries operating through the European Space Agency.  It just celebrated 25 years of permanent occupancy by international crews.