4 astronauts aboard the Worldwide Area Station are returning to Earth right now (Jan. 14), greater than a month sooner than initially deliberate.
NASA made the choice to chop SpaceX‘s Crew-11 mission brief on account of an undisclosed medical concern with one of many astronauts; the crew was scheduled to spend a six-month stint on the Worldwide Area Station (ISS) and return round late February, however they’re now within the last levels of making ready for his or her departure. The hatch between the station and their Crew Dragon spacecraft is anticipated to shut at roughly 3:30 p.m. EST (2030 GMT) right now, adopted by undocking round 5:05 p.m. EST (2305 GMT).
NASA will start hatch closure protection at 3 p.m. EST (2000 GMT) right now adopted by undocking protection at 4:45 p.m. EST (0245 GMT, Jan. 15). You possibly can watch the published on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and the company’s YouTube, in addition to right here on Area.com.
NASA mission managers polled “go” on Tuesday (Jan. 13) to proceed with Crew-11’s undocking, saying in a press release, “Climate is wanting glorious for Dragon’s parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of California.”
The Crew-11 mission launched to the ISS on Aug. 1, 2025, carrying NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. The quartet wasn’t scheduled to depart till the astronauts of SpaceX’s Crew-12 launched to take their place. However issues a few medical scenario main as much as a deliberate Jan. 8 spacewalk, or EVA, rapidly escalated to NASA’s choice of returning the crew early.
NASA administrator Jared Isaacman introduced the mission’s finish throughout a press convention the identical day because the canceled EVA, and crews aboard the ISS started their preparations to go away — together with a change of command ceremony throughout which Fincke transferred the symbolic key to the ISS to Roscosmos’ Sergey Kud-Sverchov.
With its departure forward of Crew-12’s arrival, Crew-11 leaves behind a skeleton crew of three aboard the ISS, together with Kud-Sverchov and fellow cosmonaut Sergei Mikaev in addition to NASA astronaut Chris Williams. Crew-12 is at the moment scheduled to launch no sooner than Feb. 15.
After they undock, Crew-11 astronauts face an 11-hour deorbit trajectory, with an anticipated to splashdown on Thursday (Jan. 15) at 3:41 a.m. EST (0841 GMT), off the coast of California, within the Pacific Ocean.
A publish touchdown press convention is scheduled for Thursday at 5:45 a.m. EST (1045 GMT), which may also be broadcast right here as nicely.
