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Georgina RannardScience reporter
Four astronauts have left the International Space Station a month early, in the first medical evacuation since the station was put into Earth’s orbit in 1998.
The astronauts, known as Crew 11, are expected to splash down off the coast of California in the early hours of Thursday local time.
Their journey was cut short because of medical issue involving one crew member, Nasa said. The agency did not provide details about the crew member or the nature of the medical issue, but said they were in stable condition.
Control of the ISS has been handed over to Russian cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and two other crew members.
The astronauts, Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, arrived on the ISS on 1 August expecting to complete a standard six and a half month stay. They were due to come home in mid-February.
But last week, a scheduled spacewalk by Fincke and Cardman was called off at the last minute. Hours later, Nasa revealed a crew member had become ill.
“It’s bittersweet,” said Mr Fincke when he handed over the keys to the ISS to Kud-Sverchjov on Monday.
In a social media post, he stressed that all crew members on board were “stable, safe, and well cared for”.
Orbiting Earth at an altitude of 250 miles, the International Space Station (ISS) makes 16 orbits of our planet a day, travelling at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour.
It is run by five space agencies and carries out wide-ranging scientific research about space and the effects on humans, animals and plants of living in microgravity.
NASAThe ISS carries some medical equipment and astronauts are trained to deal with minor medical issues, but it does not have a doctor on board.
The early departure leaves the ISS with a slim crew of just three astronauts – Nasa’s Chris Williams and cosmonauts Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev – until another four arrive in February.
“Despite all the changes and all the difficulties, we are going to do our job onboard ISS, performing all the scientific tasks, maintenance tasks here, whatever happens,” Kud-Sverchkov said on Monday.
He then issued his first command – a group hug.
The reduced crew will probably mean that scientific work on the ISS will be dialled back.
The incident is unprecedented in the history of the ISS, which has been permanently crewed for 26 years.
Space missions have ended early due to health issues just twice before.
In 1985, Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Vasyutin and his colleagues returned four months ahead of schedule from a mission to the Salyut 7 space station due to a urological issue.
And in 1987, a heart arrhythmia caused Soviet cosmonaut Aleksandr Laveykin to leave the Mir space station early.
As more and more humans travel into space, including for tourism and a possible occupation of the Moon or even Mars, space experts say doctors will need to travel on missions.
