Crew-11 astronauts face an 11-hour deorbit trajectory, with an expected to splashdown on Thursday Jan. 15 at 3:41 a.m. EST, off the coast of California, in the Pacific Ocean. The Crew-11 mission launched to the ISS on Aug. 1, 2025, carrying NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan's Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. The quartet wasn't scheduled to depart until the astronauts of SpaceX's Crew-12 launched to take their place, but concerns about a medical situation escalate

The countdown starts here. Meet the people who decide when our Moon rocket is “go for launch.” In the newest episode of our “NASA’s Curious Universe” podcast, learn how our team launched an uncrewed rocket around the Moon and discover what they learned to send humans on that same journey. Hear the full story: bit.ly/498S0qf | NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration