NASA considering bringing astronauts home early from International Space Station due to medical issue
NASA is evaluating its options for dealing with an astronaut health issue in orbit, one of which is an early end to SpaceX's Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station.
International Space Station Update: Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026 - YouTube 
The health issue affecting an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) may be serious enough to end his or her orbital stay early.
Early Thursday morning, NASA officials provided an update via email, which stressed that the crewmember remains stable. But that doesn't mean that everything is back to normal.
"Safely conducting our missions is our highest priority, and we are actively evaluating all options, including the possibility of an earlier end to Crew-11’s mission," the emailed update reads. "These are the situations NASA and our partners train for and prepare to execute safely. We will provide further updates within the next 24 hours."
Crew-11 is SpaceX's latest astronaut mission to the ISS, which consists of NASA's Zena Cardman and Michael Fincke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Oleg Platonov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
The planned Thursday spacewalk was to have been conducted by Cardman and Fincke.
The official portrait of the four members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station. From left are Roscosmos cosmonaut and Mission Specialist Oleg Platonov; NASA astronaut and Pilot Mike Fincke; JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut and Mission Specialist Kimiya Yui; and NASA astronaut and Commander Zena Cardman. (Image credit: SpaceX) (Image credit: SpaceX)
Crew-11 arrived at the ISS on Aug. 2, 2025 and is in the homestretch of a planned six-month orbital stay. So bringing the quartet home in the next few days, if NASA does indeed decide to do that, wouldn't shorten the mission too dramatically.
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There are three other astronauts living on the ISS at the moment as well. They are NASA's Christopher Williams and cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikayev, who arrived at the orbiting lab aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on Nov. 27.
Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.