2 Americans, a Japanese astronaut, and a Russian cosmonaut went back to Earth early Thursday after 167 days in orbit, interrupting their remain on the International Space Station by more than a month after among the team members experienced an undefined medical concern recently.

The early homecoming culminated in an on-target splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego at 12:41 am PST (08:41 UTC) inside a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. The splashdown took place minutes after the Dragon pill spotted through the environment along the California shoreline, with sightings of Dragon’s intense path reported from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

4 parachutes opened to slow the pill for the last descent. Zena Cardman, NASA’s leader of the Crew-11 objective, radioed SpaceX objective control minutes after splashdown: “It feels excellent to be home, with deep appreciation to the groups who got us there and back.”

Cardman and her crewmates left the spaceport station about 10 hours previously. NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, Japanese objective professional Kimiya Yui, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov complete the team. NASA reported a medical worry about among the team members recently, and firm authorities chose to bring the Crew-11 objective home earlier than prepared to offer the individual access to more thorough treatment on the ground.

Excellent spirits

Authorities have actually not recognized whose health remained in concern or what is affecting the ailing team member. Whatever the case, the medical concern did not appear to impact the team’s go back to Earth. The astronauts left the Dragon spacecraft appearing in excellent health and excellent spirits after SpaceX raised the pill from the water and onto a healing vessel.

Joel Montalbano, NASA’s deputy partner administrator for area operations, stated the astronauts would head to a medical center in San Diego before going back to their home at Johnson Space Center in Houston.