Four people from NASA's Crew-11 mission splashed down off San Diego, successfully completing five months aboard the International Space Station. The trip was cut short due to a medical issue.
In an unprecedented move, NASA is bringing an astronaut crew home early from the International Space Station because one astronaut has an undisclosed medical condition.
It took the capsule 17 hours to make the trip home, experiencing re-entry temperatures of around 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit as it punched through the atmosphere following Friday's ISS undocking.
NASA and SpaceX's Crew-11 mission is made up of two U.S. astronauts, one from Japan and a Russian cosmonaut. They'll be aboard the International Space Station for six months conducting research.
The private crew included Ax-4 mission commander and former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson. It was her fifth trip to space and extended her record-setting duration to 695 days, the most of any American.
It's the fourth mission to the International Space Station for Axiom Space. The Houston company works with SpaceX for rides to the station and coordinates with NASA to use the ISS for its astronauts.
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were on the International Space Station more than nine months, despite launching into space in June for what was expected to be an eight-day mission.
Boeing's troubled Starliner remains docked at the International Space Station as NASA decides it is too risky to bring the astronauts home on the spacecraft. The two astronauts will return in February.
Starliner's test pilots, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, should have returned by mid-June. NASA is weighing its options for returning the two, including a ride home in a rival SpaceX capsule.
Two astronauts have been hanging out on the International Space Station since last month, waiting for the Boeing capsule that got them there to be repaired to bring them home.
