NASA astronauts land after medical emergency caused early end to mission

NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke landed off the coast of San Diego at 3:41 a.m., alongside Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. The landing marks the only time in the ISS’s 25 years that a mission has been cut short due to a medical emergency.

This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 capsule being taken into the recovery vessel after crew members re entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)

“On behalf of SpaceX and NASA, welcome home, Crew-11,” mission controllers told the four-member crew of the SpaceX Dragon capsule as it splashed down.

George Alderman, NASA’s Deputy Press Secretary, said in a press