Crew-11 astronauts undock in 1st-ever medical evacuation from the International Space Station (video)

Four astronauts aboard the International Space Station are returning to Earth today (Jan. 14), more than a month earlier than originally planned.

NASA made the decision to cut SpaceX‘s Crew-11 mission short due to an undisclosed medical concern with one of the astronauts; the crew was scheduled to spend a six-month stint on the International Space Station (ISS) and return in late February, but they’re now on their way home. Crew-11’s Crew Dragon capsule, named Endeavour, undocked at 5:20 p.m. EST (2220 GMT).

The Crew-11 astronauts now face a roughly 11-hour deorbit trajectory, with an expected splashdown on Thursday (Jan. 15) at 3:41 a.m. EST (0841 GMT), off the coast of California, in the Pacific Ocean. You can watch that action, as well as a post-landing press conference scheduled for Thursday at 5:45 a.m. EST (1045 GMT), on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel, as well as here on Space.com.

NASA mission managers polled “go” on Tuesday (Jan. 13) to proceed with Crew-11’s undocking, saying in a statement, “Weather is looking excellent for Dragon’s parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of California.”

The Crew-11 mission launched to the ISS on Aug. 1, 2025, carrying NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. The quartet wasn’t scheduled to depart until the astronauts of SpaceX’s Crew-12 arrived to take their place. But concerns about a medical situation leading up to a planned Jan. 8 spacewalk, or EVA, quickly escalated to NASA’s decision of returning the crew early.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced the mission’s end during a press conference the same day as the canceled EVA, and crews aboard the ISS began their preparations to leave — including a change of command ceremony during which Fincke transferred the symbolic key to the ISS to Roscosmos’ Sergey Kud-Sverchov.

With its departure ahead of Crew-12’s arrival, Crew-11 leaves behind a skeleton crew of three aboard the ISS: Kud-Sverchov and fellow cosmonaut Sergei Mikaev, as well as NASA astronaut Chris Williams. Crew-12 is currently scheduled to launch no earlier than Feb. 15.

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 5:50 p.m. ET on Jan. 14 with news of undocking.