NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission safely splashed down early Thursday morning in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, concluding a more than five-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov returned to Earth at 12:41 am PST. Teams aboard SpaceX recovery vessels retrieved the spacecraft and its crew shortly after landing.

Crew-11 returned home about a month earlier than planned because of a medical concern teams are monitoring with one of the crew members, who remains stable. Due to medical privacy, it is not appropriate for NASA to share more details about the crew member. Prior to return, NASA previously coordinated for all four crewmembers to be transported to a local hospital for additional evaluation, taking advantage of medical resources on Earth to provide the best care possible.

Following the planned overnight hospital stay, the crewmembers will return to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and undergo standard postflight reconditioning and evaluations.

The Crew-11 mission lifted off at 11:43 am EDT on Aug.1, 2025, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. About 15 hours later, the crew’s SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked to the orbital outpost at 1:27 am CDT on Aug. 2.

During their 167-day mission, the four crewmembers travelled nearly 71 million miles and completed more than 2,670 orbits around Earth. The Crew-11 mission was Fincke’s fourth spaceflight, Yui’s second, and the first for Cardman and Platonov. Fincke has logged 549 days in space, ranking him fourth among all NASA astronauts for cumulative days in space.

Along the way, Crew-11 logged hundreds of hours of research, maintenance, and technology demonstrations. The crew members also celebrated the 25th anniversary of continuous human presence aboard the orbiting laboratory on Nov. 2, 2025. Research conducted aboard the space station advances scientific knowledge and demonstrates new technologies that enable us to prepare for human exploration of the Moon and Mars.

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program provides reliable access to space, maximizing the use of the International Space Station for research and development by partnering with private US companies, including SpaceX, to transport astronauts to and from the space station.