Astronauts splash down on Earth after medical evacuation from the space station

Four astronauts evacuated from the International Space Station (ISS) have landed back on Earth after their stay in space was cut short by a month due to a “serious” medical issue.

The crew captain, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, exited the spacecraft first, smiling and shaking a little on his feet before lying down on a gurney, following normal procedures.

Nasa’s Zena Cardman, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and cosmonaut Oleg Platonov followed, waving and beaming at the cameras. “It’s so good to be home!”, said Cardman.

This is the first time that astronauts have been evacuated due to a health issue since the station was placed in Earth orbit in 1998.

The team, known as Crew-11, will now receive medical checks before being flown back to land after splashing off the coast of California.

At a news conference after the splash-down, Nasa administrator Jared Isaacman said the sick astronaut was “fine today” and in “good spirits”.

Judging by Nasa’s past communications about the astronauts’ health, it is unlikely that the crew member’s identity or details of the health issue will be released to the public.

Control of the ISS was handed over to Russian cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and two other crew members.

The astronauts arrived at the ISS on 1 August expecting to complete a typical six and a half month stay. They should return 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 that a crew member had fallen ill.

“It’s bittersweet,” Mr Fincke said when he handed over the keys to the ISS to Kud-Sverchjov on Monday.

In a post on social media, he emphasized that all the crew on board were “stable, safe, and well taken care of”.

Orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 250 miles, the International Space Station (ISS) makes 16 orbits of our planet each day, traveling at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour.

It is operated by five space agencies and conducts extensive scientific research on space and the effects on humans, animals and plants living in microgravity.

The 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 evacuation was a serious test of Nasa’s procedures for dealing with medical issues.

By all accounts, it passed, though there are questions about how well the agency would have responded when the astronaut suffered a medical emergency.

The early departure left the ISS with a skeleton crew of just three astronauts – Nasa’s Chris Williams and cosmonauts Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev – until four more arrive in February.

“Despite all the changes and all the difficulties, we will do our work on the ISS, carry out all scientific tasks, maintenance tasks here, whatever happens,” Kud-Sverchkov said on Monday. Then he issued his first order – a group hug.

The incident is unprecedented in the history of the ISS, which has been permanently manned for 26 years.

Space missions have ended early due to health issues only 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.

As more and more people travel to space, including tourism and the possible occupation of the Moon or even Mars, space experts say that doctors should travel on missions.