The four members of NASA's Crew-11 safely splashed down off southern California on Thursday after the first ever medical evacuation from the ISS.

For the 1st time in the history of the International Space Station, an astronaut experienced a health issue that required NASA to end a mission early.

Astronauts orbiting the Earth are drilled to deal with the worst possible scenarios. That includes having to leave a doomed space station – quickly.

Four astronauts splashed down in the Pacific Ocean as they return early from the International Space Station due to a crew member’s medical issue.

With Crew-11 set to depart shortly, command of the ISS will fall to Russian cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov. He'll remain on the station with fellow Soyuz travellers, NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergei Mikaev. They will be the only crew aboard the station until SpaceX Crew-12 launches in February.

Astronauts on the International Space Station were not only treated to a sight from Earth's atmosphere recently but also caught a glimpse of one of the Milky Way's nearest galactic neighbors.