SpaceX Crew Makes Rare Emergency Return to Earth

A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying four astronauts was forced to make an emergency return to Earth from the International Space Station due to a serious, undisclosed medical condition affecting one of the crew members.

The capsule, named Endeavour, safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California, after a more than ten-hour descent that included a fiery re-entry through the atmosphere.

This event marks the first time in NASA’s history that a crewed mission to the ISS has been cut short specifically because of an in-flight health emergency.

The crew consisted of American astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.

Live infrared footage from the joint NASA-SpaceX broadcast captured the capsule’s parachutes deploying to slow its descent for a gentle ocean landing, successfully concluding a dramatic and unexpected end to their mission.