In a historic first for NASA, the agency conducted a medical evacuation from the International Space Station (ISS) in January 2026, bringing home the four-member SpaceX Crew-11 mission approximately a month earlier than scheduled. The crew, comprising NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan's Kimiya Yui, and Russia's Oleg Platonov, departed the ISS aboard their SpaceX Dragon capsule, named Endeavour. The decision for an early return was made following a serious but undisclosed medical condition affecting one of the astronauts, which arose around January 7, 2026. While NASA assured the public that the astronaut was stable and the situation was not an immediate emergency, the agency deemed ground-based medical evaluation and care necessary, as such comprehensive diagnostics are unavailable on the orbiting laboratory. The Crew-11 capsule undocked from the ISS on January 14, 2026, and successfully executed a middle-of-the-night splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on January 15, 2026. All four astronauts were quickly recovered and transported for medical checks, with reports confirming they were in good spirits. They later arrived in Houston on January 16, 2026, for further evaluations. This event marks the first time NASA has cut short an ISS mission due to a medical concern, though Soviet space programs had similar instances decades ago. The successful operation demonstrates the robust emergency preparedness and sophisticated capabilities of international space agencies and their commercial partners like SpaceX, underscoring the paramount importance of crew safety in human spaceflight and informing future long-duration missions beyond low Earth orbit.