NASA hopes to return Crew 11 to Earth next week over medical issue

NASA said Friday that it plans to instrumentality the Crew 11 to Earth adjacent week, conscionable 1 time aft announcing that a unit subordinate had suffered a aesculapian contented that would require the unit to shorten its travel to the International Space Station.

According to NASA, Crew 11 is targeting a departure from the abstraction presumption aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour capsule "no earlier" than 5 p.m. Eastern Time connected Jan. 14, with a splash down disconnected the seashore of California astatine astir 3:40 a.m. Eastern Time connected Jan. 15.

The scheduled instrumentality could alteration depending connected upwind conditions, NASA said.

"Mission managers proceed monitoring conditions successful the betterment area, arsenic undocking of the SpaceX Dragon depends connected spacecraft readiness, betterment squad readiness, weather, oversea states, and different factors," NASA said successful a connection Friday. "NASA and SpaceX volition prime a circumstantial splashdown clip and determination person to the Crew-11 spacecraft undocking."

On Thursday, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman reported successful a quality league that an unidentified subordinate of Crew 11 was dealing with "a aesculapian situation" that would necessitate the unit to instrumentality to Earth sooner than anticipated.

Officials did not specify the quality of the aesculapian issue, with Isaacman lone saying that the unit subordinate was "stable."

Crew 11 includes commandant Zena Cardman, astronaut Mike Fincke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.

It launched to the abstraction presumption connected Aug. 1, and had planned to instrumentality connected Feb. 20, aft the accomplishment of their replacement, Crew 12.  

The concern archetypal unfolded Wednesday, erstwhile NASA disclosed that a spacewalk had been canceled owed to a "medical concern" with the unit member.

Chief Health and Medical Officer Dr. J.D. Polk said successful Thursday's quality league that the unit subordinate was not injured oregon made sick by immoderate operational facet of surviving aboard the abstraction station, adding that spacewalk preparations played nary relation successful the incident.

The departure of Crew 11 would permission 3 radical aboard the abstraction station, NASA astronaut Chris Williams, and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev. 

William Harwood contributed to this report.

• International Space Station
• NASA