Four astronauts are now on their way home from the International Space Station, marking the first time NASA has brought a crew home prematurely. Amid health concerns. Their unprecedented early departure leaves behind an essential staff to care for the outpost.
Only three people remained in the orbital laboratory: Roscosmos astronauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikaev of Russia and NASA astronaut Chris Williams.
The four returning astronauts boarded the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule Wednesday afternoon and, just before 3:30 p.m. ET, closed the hatch between the spacecraft and the International Space Station in preparation for their departure.
The Crew Dragon capsule then left the station at 5:20 p.m. ET.
It’s a less than ideal scenario. NASA has repeatedly indicated that keeping the ISS fully crewed is a top priority, as the agency aims to maximize the amount of scientific research it can conduct on the old station before it retires for good early next decade.
New NASA Administrator Jared IsaacmanThe decision was made last week to bring the four-person crew home early when the agency canceled a January 8 spacewalk scheduled to be undertaken by US astronauts Mike Finke and Xena Cardman.
“For more than 60 years, NASA has set the standards for safety and security in human spaceflight,” Isaacman said during a press conference last week. “In these endeavors, including 25 years of continuous human presence aboard the International Space Station, the health and well-being of our astronauts has always been and will continue to be our top priority.”
Crew-11’s Dragon capsule is seen here detaching from the International Space Station on Wednesday.
Finke and Cardman, along with astronaut Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, and Roscosmos astronaut Oleg Platonov, are part of the Crew-11 mission departing the space station. NASA did not mention any crew member suffering from a medical problem, nor did the space agency provide any details about the nature of the condition, citing privacy concerns. However, NASA said the injured astronaut is in stable condition.
Finke confirmed in a statement posted on Instagram that “all those on board the plane are stable, safe, and well taken care of.” LinkedIn. “This was a deliberate decision to allow the correct medical assessments to take place on the ground, where there is a full range of diagnostic capabilities. It is the right decision, even if it is a bit bittersweet.”
Crew-11 is scheduled to land in the Pacific Ocean aboard the Crew Dragon capsule around 3:40 a.m. ET on Thursday.
Meanwhile, NASA is working to accelerate the launch of a replacement crew, called Crew-12, which was scheduled to launch in mid-February.
What does an understaffed International Space Station mean?
The space station hasn’t had a small crew on board in years. However, during a press conference last week, Amit Kshatriya, NASA’s associate administrator, noted that it is not unprecedented.
Before SpaceX began routinely flying its Crew Dragon capsule on staff rotation missions to the space station in 2020, NASA had to purchase seats on a Russian Soyuz capsule to ride to the space station for nearly a decade after the space shuttle was retired in 2011.
“The crew on board, both Russian and American, are well trained to operate in the environment they are in, and they can operate the nominal systems, the nominal search, according to plan, until their crewmates arrive,” Kshatriya said, using the term “nominal” spaceflight to refer to normal operations.
However, the remaining crew members will likely need to leave some tasks unattended. For example, Kshatriya admitted that the trio would not be able to pull off the spacewalk that Venky and Cardman were scheduled to carry out.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a Crew Dragon capsule carrying the Crew-11 mission team lifts off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on August 1, 2025. —Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images
The American duo had been assigned to exit the space station to prepare the exterior part of it to install new solar panels that would supply the station with energy.
Kshatriya said the delay in installing the solar panels was not expected to cause any immediate problems because the new devices were intended to give the space station a boost of energy to expand activity on board.
As things stand, the site doesn’t need additional power for baseline operations, and there is “a lot of margin,” Kshatriya noted.
However, trying to maintain a space station with just a three-person crew has challenges and risks, according to Jarrett Reisman, a former NASA astronaut who himself was part of a three-person crew alongside two Russians at the orbital outpost more than a decade ago.
“If I were to put my finger on one thing that significantly increases the risk, it would be if something broke on the outside,” Reisman told CNN in a phone interview on Tuesday.
For example, if a problem arose on the outside of the US side of the space station — such as an electrical switch module suddenly failing — Williams wouldn’t be able to perform a spacewalk to fix the problem on his own.
One of his Russian colleagues would probably have to use an American suit and try to help him on such a flight, perhaps with a little training.
Such an emergency scenario is highly unlikely, Reisman noted, but it highlights why NASA typically doesn’t want to bring an ISS crew home until a replacement crew is already in place.
Why does NASA want to provide the International Space Station with a full crew?
The US agency has long indicated that it wants to avoid leaving the space station understaffed for several other reasons.
Isaacman, a billionaire and private astronaut, indicated that he considered new research at the orbiting laboratory an urgent priority. Such work could help pave the way for new commercial space stations that could replace the craft, Isaacman said.
NASA has long hoped that private companies would build space stations in low Earth orbit so that the space agency could focus on its efforts to explore the depths of the solar system.
“I, like many space enthusiasts, dream of the day when we have multiple commercial space stations in low Earth orbit,” Isaacman said during his confirmation. Hearing In December. “But I believe that for this model to be financially viable, we have to maximize the remaining life of the ISS – getting the highest science and research potential into space.”
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman walks outside the White House in Washington in December. – Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
NASA says strong crew presence is critical to getting the most value and productivity aboard the orbiting laboratory, which costs about $3 billion a year to operate.
The federal agency in previous years has gone to great lengths to ensure that the space station has about seven or more astronauts on board at all times.
For example, in 2024, two NASA astronauts were scheduled to spend just one week on the space station. But when NASA discovered that its capsule malfunctioned and would not be safe for the return trip, the space agency chose to abandon the astronaut duo Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams – On site for nine months in order to maintain staffing levels.
“Operating the International Space Station is a complex mission, and has been so for 25 years,” Kshatriya said during a press conference held last week. “What we are reminded of every day is the unforgiving nature of human spaceflight.”
As for Chris Williams, he may be spending more isolated time with the entire American portion of the space station to himself.
“It’s nice to have another American, but Chris spent a lot of time with his Russian teammates during training, and I’m sure they have a good relationship,” Raisman said.
He noted that relations between the United States and Russia had become noticeably more tense in the decade since Raisman spent months alone with his Russian crewmates.
“But by and large, they kind of ignore the geopolitics,” Reisman said with a laugh. “It’s like Thanksgiving dinner: You don’t talk about politics or religion.”
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