The astronauts of SpaceX's Crew-11 have begun preparations for their return to Earth, for which a date is still unknown, after one of their members experienced health issues although they remain stable, NASA reported on Friday.
The U.S. space agency explained in a statement that the four mission members, who are on the International Space Station (ISS), have started gathering and storing their belongings for their departure and have tested the suits they will use during their return aboard a Dragon capsule.
Their anticipated return is due to health problems of one of them, whose identity NASA has not disclosed for privacy reasons. Although it maintains that the patient is stable, it specified that they must return to Earth to undergo medical tests, as the station does not have the necessary capacity to perform complex diagnostics.
The date of their early departure, which is an unusual measure in the history of the orbital complex, is still unknown, but it is expected that NASA will reveal more details in the next 24 hours.
Crew-11, composed of Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke from NASA; Kimiya Yui, from the Japanese space agency JAXA; and Oleg Platonov, from the Russian space agency Roscosmos, docked at the International Space Station in early August of last year and was scheduled to return to Earth in early 2026, after completing a six-month mission.
The launch of Crew-12 from Florida, the next crew rotation mission at the space station, is scheduled for mid-February.
In addition to the preparations for the return of Crew-11, NASA reported that three of the four crew members of the mission performed maintenance tasks or experiments scheduled in their itinerary. Fincke was the only name the space agency linked to no task.
In addition to the four members of Crew-11, the orbital laboratory has three other crew members inside.
The mission members have gone through years of physical, technical, and psychological training, designed to prepare them for the extreme demands of space, isolation, and medical emergencies.
It is very rare for an illness to force the shortening of a complete mission, according to specialists. The astronaut's illness has also caused the cancellation of this year's first spacewalk, which was scheduled for last Thursday.
Before the existence of the ISS, in 1985, a Soviet mission had to be canceled after the serious illness of its commander, Vladimir Vasyutin, who suffered from acute prostatitis in space, which forced the crew's return to Earth to be brought forward by about two months.
