NASA says its Crew-11 astronauts have arrived in Houston after 1st-ever medical evacuation from space station

11 hours ago 6

four people in black and white spacesuits are seen sitting inside a space capsule

From left to right: Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman and JAXA's Kimiya Yui are seen inside the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft onboard the SpaceX recovery ship SHANNON shortly after landing in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Long Beach, California on Jan. 15, 2026. (Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

The four astronauts of SpaceX's Crew-11 mission made it to Houston today (Jan. 16), just a day after their unprecedented medical evacuation from the International Space Station.

The Crew-11 spaceflyers — NASA's Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Kimiya Yui of Japan and cosmonaut Oleg Platonov — splashed down off the coast of Long Beach, California early Thursday morning (Jan. 15). They then spent a day and night at a local medical facility before heading east to Texas.

"The four crew members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission have arrived at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where they will continue standard postflight reconditioning and evaluations," NASA officials wrote in an emailed update on Friday afternoon (Jan. 16).

"All crew members remain stable," the updated adds. "To protect the crew’s medical privacy, no specific details regarding the condition or individual will be shared."

Crew-11 launched in early August for a planned six-month stay aboard the International Space Station. But one of the four crewmates experienced a medical issue in orbit last week, prompting NASA to cut the mission short by five weeks or so.

The orbiting lab is currently staffed by a skeleton crew of three — NASA's Chris Williams and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikayev, both of the Russian space agency Roscosmos.

two people in hard hats climb onto a white cone-shaped capsule on the deck of a barge at sea

The orbiting lab won't return to its baseline of seven crewmembers until SpaceX's Crew-12 mission arrives. Crew-12 is currently scheduled to launch on Feb. 15, though NASA and SpaceX are studying the possibility of moving that timeline up a bit if possible.

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Crew-12 isn't the only astronaut launch that NASA is preparing for at the moment. The agency is also gearing up for the liftoff of Artemis 2, which will send four people on a 10-day mission around the moon.

Artemis 2's Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule will roll out to the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday (Jan. 17). If all goes well with the rollout and subsequent testing, Artemis 2 could launch as soon as Feb. 6.

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.

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