NASA Space Mission: American space agency NASA has done medical evacuation from space for the first time. For the first time in history, NASA has prematurely returned four astronauts to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) due to medical reasons. Today i.e. Thursday (Indian time) four astronauts left the International Space Station. These four astronauts will land on Earth by Friday (Indian time). Due to ill health of one astronaut, NASA had to recall all four of its astronauts.

According to news agency AP, the four astronauts left from ISIS i.e. International Space Station in SpaceX capsule. These include astronauts from America, Russia and Japan. The landing of these four astronauts will take place on Friday in the Pacific Ocean near California. Due to ill health of an astronaut, NASA had to reduce the duration of its mission. These four astronauts were sent to the International Space Station in August 2025 and were to return by the end of February.

Health broke the dream
In fact, this is the first time in the history of NASA that there has been a medical emergency on the International Space Station (ISS) and due to this, its astronauts had to be called back. Due to the deteriorating health of an astronaut, NASA will bring its team of four astronauts present on the ISS back to Earth about a month before the scheduled time. However, citing confidentiality, the agency has neither disclosed the name of the astronaut nor shared the details of the disease.

Which astronauts are in this mission

1. Jenna Cardman (NASA)
2. Mike Finke (NASA)
3. Kimiya Yui (JAXA, Japan)
4. Oleg Platonov (Roscosmos, Russia)

NASA had postponed the spacewalk
Recently, the American space agency NASA had postponed the proposed spacewalk citing the ill health of an astronaut. This incident occurred on January 7, 2026, when a crew member’s medical condition became apparent, leading to the cancellation of the spacewalk (US EVA 94) on January 8. This spacewalk was to be done by NASA astronauts Mike Finke and Jenna Cardman, which was about 6.5 hours. Tasks included preparing the ISS’s 2A power channel for future IRVOSA (ISS Roll-out Solar Arrays), taking swabs to detect microorganisms in airlocks, and other tasks.

When did this team go?
The name of this NASA mission was Crew-11 mission. It was to last till 2026, but now it has been reduced due to medical emergency. Crew-11 consists of Jenna Cardman, Mike Finke (NASA), Kimiya Yui (JAXA), and Oleg Platonov (Roscosmos). This four-member team reached the orbiting laboratory through ‘SpaceX’ last year i.e. in August 2025. This team had to stay on the space station for at least six months.

For the first time in NASA history
According to NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, this is the first time in the history of the ISS that a mission is being terminated prematurely solely for medical reasons. At the same time, NASA’s Chief Health Officer Dr. James Polk said that this had never happened before in the 65-year history of the agency. Crew-11 was sent to the ISS on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft in August and was to return after about six months. Now coming back by SpaceX vehicle only.