What is Crew-11? What to know about astronauts leaving space station early
Updated Jan. 13, 2026, 9:44 a.m. ET
This marks the first medical evacuation in the 25-year history of the International Space Station. The four-person crew is scheduled to undock from the ISS on Wednesday and splash down off the coast of California early Thursday. While on the station, the astronauts conducted scientific research, including experiments to support future Artemis moon missions.
After more than five months in space, four astronauts on a mission known as Crew-11 are about to cut their mission short and return to Earth. Since the beginning of August, the crew of the joint NASA and SpaceX mission have lived and worked at the International Space Station, conducting scientific research and keeping the iconic outpost humming along. But a health issue in January with one of the spacefarers prompted NASA to initiate the first medical evacuation in the space station's 25-year history.
Now, the Crew-11 members, including two Americans, are potentially a day away from boarding the spacecraft that brought them to the orbital laboratory to make their way home. Here's everything to know about the Crew-11 mission, including a look at the astronauts and what they've been up to at the ISS.
When will Crew-11 astronauts be medically evacuated?
After one of the Crew-11 astronauts experienced what NASA called a "medical concern," the space agency made the decision to cut the mission short and return all four of them to Earth. NASA did not specify the nature of the medical issue, nor identify the crew member, who is now stable. The astronauts are due to depart no earlier than 5 p.m. ET Wednesday, Jan. 14, from the International Space Station. Were the undocking to occur as scheduled, the crew would face a more-than 10-hour journey through space and Earth's atmosphere, culminating in a water landing around 3:40 a.m. ET Thursday, Jan. 15, off the coast of California.
NASA will provide live coverage of the return of the astronauts on the agency's streaming app, NASA+.
What is the SpaceX Crew-11?
As the name suggests, Crew-11 is NASA and SpaceX's 11th science expedition to the International Space Station. The missions, most of which last about six months, are contracted under NASA's commercial crew program. The program allows the U.S. space agency to pay SpaceX to launch and transport astronauts and cargo to orbit aboard the company's Dragon vehicles, freeing up NASA to focus on its Artemis lunar program and other spaceflight missions, including future crewed voyages to Mars. NASA is also hoping to certify Boeing's Starliner capsule to add a second operational vehicle for missions to the ISS before the station is retired by 2030.
Who are the astronauts of Crew-11?
Here's a look at the four astronauts who are part of Crew-11:
- Zena Cardman, a NASA astronaut from Virginia making her first spaceflight
- Mike Fincke, a NASA astronaut from Pennsylvania making his fourth trip to space
- Kimiya Yui, a Japanese astronaut of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
- Oleg Platonov, a Russian Roscosmos cosmonaut
How long will Crew-11 be in space? When they reached ISS
The four astronauts selected for the mission reached the orbital laboratory after an Aug. 1, 2025, launch, replacing the Crew-10 contingent. They themselves will eventually be replaced by the Crew-12 mission. SpaceX uses its Falcon 9 rocket, one of the most active in the world, to launch the crew missions from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The astronauts ride a Dragon crew capsule, the only U.S. spacecraft capable of carrying astronauts, to and from the space station.
What have the NASA astronauts been doing at the ISS?
Since their arrival more than five months ago, the Crew-11 astronauts have participated in scientific research aboard the International Space Station while assisting in routine station maintenance. Perhaps most prominently, Crew-11 helped NASA prepare for its upcoming Artemis human missions to the moon by conducting experiments to simulate landing scenarios that astronauts could encounter near the lunar South Pole. In her downtime, Cardman also practiced her craft as a budding astral photographer, documenting celestial wonders like auroras on Earth. Cardman and Fincke were also due to participate in a Jan. 8 spacewalk before the undisclosed medical issue prompted NASA to indefinitely postpone it. The spacewalk, which would have involved the astronauts suiting up to partake in activity outside of the space station, would have been Cardman's first and Fincke's 10th. Had Fincke completed the spacewalk, he would have tied the record with Peggy Whitson for most spacewalks by a NASA astronaut.
