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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced on Friday that the early undocking of the SpaceX Crew-11 mission from the International Space Station (ISS) will take place on January 14.
The mission holds significance as it is NASA's first-ever medical evacuation from the International Space Station. For the first time ever, four astronauts will depart the ISS early due to a medical issue.
Senior space agency officials said a "serious medical condition" with a crew member aboard the ISS led NASA to bring the astronaut and three crewmates back to Earth months earlier than planned, the first such emergency return in the orbiting laboratory's 25-year history.
"NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than 5 pm EST, Wednesday, Jan 14, for the undocking of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission from the International Space Station, pending weather conditions," the US space agency said in a press release on Friday.
According to the release, NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov will splash down off the coast of California at approximately 3:40 am on Thursday, January 15.
But, the undocking of the SpaceX Dragon depends on spacecraft readiness, recovery team readiness, weather, sea states, and other factors.
"NASA and SpaceX will select a specific splashdown time and location closer to the Crew-11 spacecraft undocking," NASA said.
The crew - Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov - has been on the space station since launching from Florida in August and were scheduled to return around May this year.
What's the 'medical concern' on ISS?
On January 8, NASA announced its decision to return the SpaceX Crew-11 mission to Earth from the space station earlier than originally planned as teams monitor a "medical concern" with a crew member currently living and working aboard the orbital laboratory.
The agency had informed that the astronaut is "stable." But, it didn't share further details, saying, "It is not appropriate for NASA to share more details about the crew member."
The NASA officials did not even identify which of the Crew-11 mission's four astronauts was experiencing the medical issue or describe its nature.
NASA Chief Health and Medical Officer James Polk said, "This was not an injury that occurred in the pursuit of operations," meaning it did not happen while the astronaut was working, Reuters reported.
NASA's astronaut corps regards medical situations on the ISS as closely held secrets, and astronauts rarely acknowledge or describe publicly their medical conditions.
Spacewalks called off
On Wednesday afternoon, NASA had also called off a planned spacewalk with two US astronauts that had been scheduled for Thursday over what it described as a "medical concern" with an astronaut, later saying in a midnight statement that it was considering ending the astronaut's rotation mission early.
Fincke, the station's designated commander, and Cardman, assigned as flight engineer, were scheduled to conduct a 6.5-hour spacewalk on Thursday to install hardware outside the station.
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