SpaceX Crew-11 splashes down off California after 167-day ISS mission

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission safely splashed down early Thursday morning in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, concluding a more than five-month mission aboard the International Space Station. NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov returned to Earth at 12:41 a.m.

PST. Teams aboard SpaceX recovery vessels retrieved the spacecraft and its crew shortly after landing. Crew-11 returned home about a month earlier than planned because of a medical concern teams are monitoring with one of the crew members, who remains stable. Due to medical privacy, NASA said it is not appropriate to share more details about the crew member.

Prior to the return, NASA coordinated for all four crew members to be transported to a local hospital for additional evaluation. Following the planned overnight hospital stay, the crew members will return to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and undergo standard postflight reconditioning and evaluations.

The mission completed more than 140 science experiments, the agency said. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said, “I couldn’t be prouder of our astronauts and the teams on the ground at NASA, SpaceX, and across our international partnerships,” and noted the mission’s role in advancing human exploration.

Key Topics

Science, San Diego, International Space Station, Spacex, Nasa, Kimiya Yui