NASA said its SpaceX Crew-11 mission safely returned to Earth early Thursday, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego and concluding a more than five-month stay aboard the International Space Station.
The SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov touched down at 12:41 a.m. PST, NASA said. Recovery teams aboard SpaceX vessels retrieved the crew shortly after landing.
“I couldn’t be prouder of our astronauts and the teams on the ground at NASA, SpaceX, and across our international partnerships,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “Crew-11 completed more than 140 science experiments that advance human exploration. Missions like Crew-11 demonstrate the capability inherent in America’s space program.”
The mission returned about a month earlier than planned due to a medical issue involving one crew member, NASA said, adding that the individual remains stable. The agency did not disclose further details, citing medical privacy. All four crew members were transported to a local hospital for evaluation before returning to Johnson Space Center in Houston for routine postflight recovery.
Crew-11 launched on Aug. 1, 2025, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida and docked with the space station about 15 hours later. During their 167-day mission, the astronauts traveled nearly 71 million miles and completed more than 2,670 orbits of Earth.
The mission marked Fincke’s fourth spaceflight, Yui’s second, and the first for Cardman and Platonov. Fincke has now logged 549 cumulative days in space, ranking fourth among NASA astronauts.
Crew-11 conducted hundreds of hours of research, maintenance and technology demonstrations, and participated in marking the 25th anniversary of continuous human presence aboard the orbiting laboratory on Nov. 2, 2025. NASA said the work supports future human exploration, including upcoming Artemis missions to the Moon and eventually Mars.
The flight was part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which partners with private companies such as SpaceX to provide transportation to and from the space station and ensure continued access to low Earth orbit.
