It’s an unusual mission for SpaceX’s Crew-11. Instead of remaining on the International Space Station (ISS) for the entire duration of their mission, the four crew members return home a month early due to a medical issue with one of the astronauts.
Crew-11 left the ISS on Wednesday afternoon and is expected to crash in the early hours of Thursday. Read on for full details on how to watch.
To protect privacy, NASA declined to reveal both the astronaut’s identity and the medical issue at the heart of the early return.
NASA chief Jared Isaacman said only that it was a “serious illness” and that he was the one who called for the mission to be aborted. NASA added that the astronaut’s condition was “stable.”
Crew-11 consists of the Americans Michael Fincke and Zena Cardman as well as the Japanese Kimiya Yui and the Russian Oleg Platonov. The four space travelers arrived at the space station in August last year and until last week had expected to stay until February.
All four appeared on camera Monday at a change of command ceremony aboard the ISS.
They are now aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon and are preparing to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere in the coming hours.
Here’s how to watch
NASA will livestream the final 90 minutes of Crew-11’s high-speed journey home.
Coverage begins Thursday at 2:15 a.m. ET and you can watch it on NASA+ and the agency’s YouTube channel. You can also watch it using the player embedded at the top of this page.
The broadcast will follow the Crew Dragon’s progress as it returns to solid ground. You can also hear live communication between the crew and Mission Control.
Water is forecast to break in off the coast of California at 3:41 a.m. ET. The entire crew will then be returned to land for complete inspection, with special attention guaranteed to be given to a particular astronaut.
Due to the early departure of Crew-11, there are only three people left on board the ISS – a NASA astronaut and two Roscosmos cosmonauts. SpaceX’s Crew-12 is expected to arrive in mid-February. At this point the crew number will increase to a more typical seven.
