Crew-11 astronauts arrive in Houston after 1st-ever medical evacuation from ISS
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The Crew-11 astronauts return to Ellington Field in Houston on January 16, 2026. From left to right: NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Japan’s Kimya Yui and cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. | Credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz
The four astronauts of SpaceX’s Crew-11 mission arrived in Houston today (Jan. 16), just one day after their unprecedented medical evacuation from the International Space Station.
The Crew-11 space planes – NASA’s Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and cosmonaut Oleg Platonov – crashed off the coast of Long Beach, California. early Thursday morning (January 15). They then spent a day and night at a local medical facility before heading to East Texas.
“The four crew members of the NASA spacecraft EspaceX The Crew-11 mission arrived at the agency Johnson Space Center to Houston, where they will continue standard post-flight reconditioning and evaluations,” NASA officials wrote in an emailed update Friday afternoon (Jan. 16).
“All crew members remain stable,” the update adds. “To protect the medical confidentiality of the crew, no specific details regarding the condition or individual will be shared.”
Crew-11 was launched in early August for a planned six-month stay aboard the International Space Station. But one of the four teammates had a medical problem into orbit last week, prompting NASA to shorten the mission by about five weeks.
The orbiting laboratory is currently equipped with a crew reduced to three people — Chris Williams, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikayev of NASA, both of the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
Recovery teams arrive at Crew-11’s Crew Dragon capsule shortly after splashdown on January 15, 2026. | Credit: NASA/SpaceX
The orbiting laboratory will not return to its base of seven crew members until SpaceX’s Crew-12 mission arrives. Crew-12’s launch is currently scheduled for February 15, although NASA and SpaceX are exploring the possibility of moving that timeline forward a bit if possible.
Crew-12 isn’t the only astronaut launch NASA is currently preparing for. The agency is also preparing the takeoff of Artemis 2which will send four people on a 10-day mission around the Moon.
Artemis 2 Space Launch System the Orion rocket and capsule will be deployed to the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida SATURDAY (January 17). If all goes well with the deployment and subsequent testing, Artemis 2 could launch as early as February 6.
