Four astronauts aboard the International Space Station are making an unprecedented move.
NASA’s Michael Fincke and Zena Cardman, as well as Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, are heading back to Earth about a month earlier than expected due to a medical issue involving one of the crew members.
This will be the first-ever medical evacuation in the 25-year history of the ISS.
“Due to medical privacy, it is not appropriate for NASA to share more details about the crew member,” the agency shared in a Jan. 13 press release, noting that the astronaut’s condition is “stable.”
The four-person team—initially launched into space in August as NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11—is scheduled to splash down off the California coast during the early morning hours of Jan. 15.
