Miami.- NASA’s Crew-11 mission successfully splashed down this Thursday in the ocean off the coast of San Diego (California, USA), after having to anticipate its return from the International Space Station (ISS) due to a medical emergency that affected one of its four crew members.
After a journey of almost eleven hours, SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, which undocked from the space station on Wednesday at 22:20 GMT (17:20 EST), was resting on the water at 8:41 GMT (3:41 EST), in a perfect splashdown on a calm ocean and excellent maritime conditions.
“Welcome home, Crew-11!”, were the welcoming words from NASA’s control center for the Crew-11 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, who have spent 165 days in the orbital laboratory and 167 in space.
With the help of four parachutes, the capsule managed to decelerate and safely splash down in the ocean where a recovery ship waited to secure the Dragon, bring it on board, and disembark the astronauts.
About forty minutes after splashing down, the capsule doors opened and the crew emerged. Somewhat weak from the time spent in space in microgravity conditions, the four astronauts exited the Dragon smiling and in apparent good condition.
The first to do it, at 9:28 GMT (4:28 EST), was Mike Fincke, who after greeting the cameras was taken on a stretcher to the interior of the ship where the entire crew will undergo a routine initial medical examination. Minutes later, Zena Cardman, Kimiya Yui, and Oleg Platonov came out.
In a press conference after the splashdown, NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said that the crew has returned earlier than expected “out of precaution” and that they were all “well and in good spirits.”
Isaacman explained that “the serious medical conditions” of one of the crew members forced them to return, and that the situation required “the appropriate care” that can only be guaranteed in a hospital on land, and assured that NASA will provide more information “at the appropriate time”.
«It’s the first time we’ve had to return slightly earlier than planned, but NASA was prepared and the crew responded quickly and professionally» because precisely to face these unforeseen events the agency prepares «for the unexpected», he underlined.
For his part, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for space operations, Joel Montalbano, explained that the four crew members will be transported to land from the ship to a hospital in San Diego where they will spend the night, rest and recover “from a long day.”
It is expected that this Friday the four crew members will be discharged and transferred to Houston to complete the mission, Isaacman added.
Despite the circumstances, “the mission has been a success” and in these five months of work, “the crew has carried out 850 hours of scientific studies” that will help advance space exploration and life on Earth and that will have medical and industrial applications, highlighted the head of NASA.
An Early Return
On January 8th, NASA announced its decision to bring the mission to an early end and bring the four crew members back to Earth, one of whom was affected by a medical problem, of which no further details have been given, except that they are stable.
It is the first time that a permanent operating ISS mission returns early due to the health of one of its members because, although the station has advanced medical equipment, complex diagnoses must be performed on Earth.
The mission, which has brought forward its return by two weeks compared to the original schedule -contemplating a six-month stay in orbit- has forced the cancellation of the first spacewalk of this year, which was scheduled for this Thursday.
Following the departure of Crew-11, three crew members remain on board the ISS, under the command of Roscosmos’ Russian cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, who has taken command as commander of the orbital laboratory, replacing Fincke.
Crew-12, the next mission, also with four crew members – including European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot – is scheduled to launch from Florida in mid-February, which will allow the usual number of astronauts to be restored at the station.
