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The four members of the SpaceX Crew-11 are evacuating from the International Space Station due to a a medical problem affecting one of them. Photo: AFP (file)
WASHINGTON:
Four crewmembers aboard the International Space Station were set to depart Wednesday after a medical issue prompted their mission to be cut a month short — a first for the orbiting laboratory.
American astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov and Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui were set to undock from the ISS at 2205 GMT on Wednesday, after five months in space.
NASA has declined to disclose which crewmember has the health problem or give details about the issue, but the US space agency has stressed the return is not an emergency situation, saying the person’s condition was stable.
The four are scheduled to splash down off the California coast at around 0840 GMT on Thursday aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule.
