Due to health problems with one of the crew members of the SpaceX Crew-11 mission, all four returned to Earth ahead of schedule on January 15, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego, America. Who exactly caused the return flight is kept secret.
American astronauts Zena Cardman and Michael Finke, Japanese Kimiya Yue, and Russian Oleg Platonov returned from the ISS.
According to Finke, a “medical problem” arose aboard the ISS on January 7, the day before his and Cardman's scheduled spacewalk. The readings from the ultrasound machine caused the cancellation of the spacewalk and the decision to return early.
The American astronaut said that the portable ultrasound machine, which is part of the ISS equipment, was usually used for “routine checks of changes” in organisms in zero gravity conditions, and this time it turned out to be “very useful” in an emergency situation.
Finke expressed confidence that all future space missions should be equipped with such devices, because “sometimes unforeseen circumstances happen.”
Cardman and Yue also assessed the situation and equipment of the ISS positively.
The agency does not report the Russian’s reaction.
Context
Crew-11 departed for the ISS in August 2025 for a six-month mission.
NASA Chief Physician James Polk said the medical problem had nothing to do with the spacewalk or preparation for it. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman clarified, commenting on the problem, that “there is no way to properly diagnose and treat this on the ISS.”
Until the arrival of Crew-12 in February 2026, only three people will work on the ISS – Christopher Williams from NASA and Russian cosmonauts Sergei Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, who arrived at the orbital laboratory on November 27, 2025 and are scheduled to stay there until the summer of 2026.
