‘Safe and in good spirits’: Astronauts splash back to Earth in NASA’s first medical evacuation

The astronaut requiring NASA’s first medical evacuation has safely re-entered Earth after splashing into the Pacific Ocean with their crew on Thursday evening (AEDT), returning from the International Space Station in a SpaceX capsule more than a month before they were expected home.

The astronauts - from the US, Russia and Japan – splashed into the Pacific Ocean near San Diego at 7.41pm AEDT, one week after the ailing astronaut, yet to be formally identified, conveyed health concerns triggering the evacuation. NASA administrator Jared Isaacman shared that the astronaut is “doing fine”, and would share updates of their health “when it is appropriate to do so”.

“This mission brought Space Crew-11 safely home … all are safe and in good spirits,” Isaacman told reporters at a press conference two hours after splash down.

“While we’ve had to evacuate the crew early, NASA was ready … this is why we train, this is NASA at its finest.”

A pack of dolphins greeted Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov at splashdown and remained at the site while NASA recovery vessels circled the capsule. The splashdown concluded their 167-day space mission, with all but two of those days spent on the International Space Station.

Small boats deployed to the anticipated landing area approached the spacecraft moments after splashdown, checking for hazardous gases before a crew of speedboats approached to tend to the astronauts.

The capsule was hoisted into a large recovery vessel at 8.09pm, extracting the astronauts from the ocean and towards dry land. Astronauts were lowered onto a hangar at the end of the vessel, below a helipad at the top of the ship, and pulled towards an exit point at the end of the hangar.

Fincke was the first crew member to exit the capsule, taking his first breath of fresh air since August at 8.28pm.

It came nine minutes after the hatch to the capsule was opened. A SpaceX medical consultant was the first to enter the cabin, followed by NASA photographer Bill Ingalls, who snapped the crew in position before additional staff smoothed the path for the astronauts’ exit.

Cardman was the next to emerge, followed by Yui and Platonov, the latter of whom was last to leave the capsule at 8.35pm.

The crew was slid down a ramp and put onto gurneys, which were rolled to a nearby medical tent.

They have been transported to a medical facility in the San Diego area, where they’re expected to be monitored for at least the next 24 hours, before they’re returned to NASA headquarters in Houston, where they will be reunited with their families.

Officials refused to identify the astronaut who needs care last week, and would not divulge the nature of the health concerns.

Cardman, Fincke, Yui and Platonov entered a medical conference via radio communication with a surgeon minutes after arriving. The contents of the conference, which lasted less than five minutes, remained private.

The ailing astronaut was “stable, safe and well cared for,” said Fincke, the outgoing space station commander, this week via social media. “This was a deliberate decision to allow the right medical evaluations to happen on the ground, where the full range of diagnostic capability exists.”

“Our timing of this departure is unexpected,” Cardman said before the return trip, “but what was not surprising to me was how well this crew came together as a family to help each other and just take care of each other.”

Light winds and small swell presented a “perfect landing opportunity” for the astronauts, according to Joel Montalbano, the Deputy Space Operations Administrator at NASA, who praised the exhaustive work required to return the crew safely.

“It was a huge effort across the board,” Montalbano said. “It was an awesome landing [opportunity] … and it was great to see the team take advantage of it.”

Launched in August, Cardman, Fincke, Yui and Platonov should have remained on the space station until late February. But on January 7, NASA abruptly cancelled the next day’s spacewalk by Cardman and Fincke and later announced the crew’s early return.

Officials said the health problem was unrelated to spacewalk preparations or other station operations, but offered no other details, citing medical privacy. They stressed it was not an emergency.

NASA said it would stick to the same entry and splashdown procedures at a flight’s end, with the usual assortment of medical experts aboard the recovery ship in the Pacific.

It will be another middle-of-the-night crew return for SpaceX, coming less than 11 hours after undocking from the space station. They will spend more than nine hours in orbit as the spacecraft’s trajectory lines up with its landing spot.

NASA said it was not yet known how quickly all four would be flown from California to Houston, home to Johnson Space Centre and the base for astronauts.

Fincke, 58, a retired Air Force colonel, and Yui, 55, a retired fighter pilot with the Japan Air Self-Defence Force, are repeat space fliers. Fincke has spent more than a year in orbit over four missions and conducted nine spacewalks on previous flights, making him one of NASA’s top performers.

Last week, Yui celebrated his 300th day in space over two station stays, sharing stunning views of Earth, including Japan’s Mount Fuji and breathtaking auroras.

“I want to burn it firmly into my eyes, and even more so, into my heart,” Yui said on the social platform X. “Soon, I too will become one of those small lights on the ground.”

NASA officials had said it was riskier to leave the astronaut in space without proper medical attention for another month than to temporarily reduce the size of the space station crew by more than half.

Until SpaceX delivers another crew, NASA said it would have to stand down from any routine or even emergency spacewalks, a two-person job requiring back-up.

With AP

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