\n<\/p>\n
NASA\u2019s medical evacuation of four astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) is officially underway. On Wednesday at 5:20 P.M. EST, a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying the members of Crew-11 undocked from the station to begin the 10.5-hour-long journey back to Earth.<\/p>\n
The capsule is carrying NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. One of the four\u2014NASA has not identified which\u2014experienced an unknown medical issue, the agency announced last week. The crew member has been described as \u201cstable\u201d since the incident occurred.<\/p>\n
The ISS is equipped with an array of medical equipment, drugs and diagnostic tools, meaning most minor ailments such as cuts and scrapes can be treated onboard the station. Even teeth can be pulled, and ultrasounds can be done. But NASA has decided that whatever occurred is serious enough to end the crew\u2019s mission a month earlier than planned and bring them home\u2014a first in the history of the ISS.<\/p>\n
If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n
The returning Crew Dragon capsule is set to splash down off the coast of San Diego, Calif., at approximately 3:41 A.M. EST. A SpaceX and NASA recovery team will be waiting on the water to meet the crew. NASA administrator Jared Isaacman will speak to the media soon after.<\/p>\n
If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American<\/span> has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American<\/span> subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm <\/span>always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/span>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NASA\u2019s medical evacuation of four astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) is officially underway. On Wednesday at 5:20 P.M. EST, a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying the members of Crew-11 undocked from the station to begin the 10.5-hour-long journey back to Earth. The capsule is carrying NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Japan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41686,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[2724,5951,5817,2534,3140],"class_list":{"0":"post-41685","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-astronauts","9":"tag-evacuate","10":"tag-incident","11":"tag-iss","12":"tag-medical"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}