Four Nasa astronauts splashed down in the Pacific Ocean today after an abrupt ‘controlled medical evacuation’ of the International Space Station.
The crew, who landed off the coast of Southern California aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, were scheduled to return in February.
But a medical issue involving one of the crew members last week led space officials to decide to bring them back early.
Nasa hailed the crew’s return as ‘really smooth’, with a live stream showing the capsule bobbing in the ocean and dolphins splashing nearby.
The crew is made up of US astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.
Nasa has neither identified the spacefarer involved in the medical emergency nor the condition.
Teams moved the capsule aboard a recovery vessel, with Fincke the first astronaut to leave to applause.
Platonov was the final member to make their way onto the deck of the recovery vessel, being placed on a wheelchair.
They undocked from the ISS, humanity’s scientific outpost in the stars, at 10.20pm.
But getting back to Earth wasn’t as simple as just falling – the crew were drifting in the cosmos for nearly 11 hours, so the spacecraft’s trajectory lined up with the landing location.
The capsule, made by Elon Musk’s rocket company, fired its thrusters to drop out of orbit and back into Earth’s atmosphere.
As they plummeted, the astronauts were slapped with a force equal to several times that of gravity.
While the astronauts have finally reunited with gravity and landed off the coast of California, they won’t be back on Earthly dry ground for some time.
In roughly four hours or so, they’ll be flown via helicopter to put their feet on the ground for the first time since August.
People in the California area have posted images of a streak of light cutting through the sky, which Nasa said on X was the capsule falling.
Nasa cancelled a scheduled spacewalk last week because of a medical issue involving one of the astronauts.
A day later, the space agency said it was cutting the team’s stay short.
Officials said the affected astronaut is in stable condition and would not require any emergency treatment once back on Earth.
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