For the first time in history, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is conducting a medical evacuation from the International Space Station (I.S.S). 

According to the New York Times, four astronauts are returning to Earth due to one of them having a medical issue and needing to return home quickly. NASA hasn’t disclosed any information on which astronaut had the medical issue or what it was for privacy reasons. The four returning astronauts will be Zena Cardman and Michael Fincke from NASA, Kimiya Yui from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and Oleg Platanov from a Russian space agency. 

They will be returning on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule that has already undocked from the I.S.S. After the undocking, the capsule will be sent  into orbit for around nine hours while waiting to line up with the landing station. After loading the astronaut, they will touch down using parachutes into the Pacific Ocean, where a ship will be waiting for them with doctors onboard. 

On the other hand, three astronauts will remain on board the I.S.S.: NASA astronaut Christopher Williams and Russian astronauts Sergey Kud-Sverchov and Sergey Mikaev. They are going to stay in the space station until summer as they went to the I.S.S. on a Russian spacecraft.

Another crew will be going to the I.S.S. in February with four new astronauts, scheduled to stay for nine months, so the I.S.S. won’t be understaffed for long. Officials from NASA have mentioned they are trying to see if that launch can be moved up, the New York Times states.

For now, it’s best to remain positive and wish the astronauts good luck on their impromptu journey back home!