Because of a medical incident, four astronauts have the International Space Station ISS leave early. They undocked from the ISS with a Crew Dragon transport capsule, as live images from NASA showed. It is the first time that the US space agency NASA Astronauts were brought back from the space station early due to health problems.
During Thursday, US astronauts Zena Cardman and Michael Fincke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonow are scheduled to land in the sea off the coast of the US state of California after around eleven hours of flight.
The operation was actually supposed to last until the end of February
“The timing of this departure is unexpected for us,” Cardman said before the return trip. But the crew grew together like a family to support and care for each other, said the astronaut.
Last week, NASA first canceled an external mission on the ISS at short notice due to health problems of a crew member – and then announced that that because of the problem she would bring the entire four-person crew back to Earth early.
NASA did not want to comment on the identity of the sick crew member or details of the health problems. The crew member is in stable condition. The early return trip was a conscious decision to provide the astronaut with the full range of medical examination options on Earth, said ISS Commander Fincke. “Crew 11” has been on board the ISS since the beginning of August and was actually supposed to stay there until the end of February.
