.@NASA is returning @SpaceX’s Crew-11 mission to Earth earlier than planned due to a crew member’s medical concern while reviewing options to advance Crew-12’s launch. https://t.co/AMIVh7zC9P
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) January 9, 2026
Well, the bummer becomes a bit more bumming, but NASA is being appropriately cautious. This is the first time they've ended a mission early due to crew health, which is pretty amazing when you consider 25 years of continuous human presence on ISS, 135 Shuttle missions, 9 lunar flights (which had a few health-related issues), etc.
There have been illness-related launch delays in the past, though those are pretty rare. There was STS-36 in 1990 (Commander Creighton was ill), and Crew-3 in 2021 (crew member not specified). I didn't find any others, though that's not dispositive.
There was also that time when Eric Boe was removed on a mission in 2019 (one of six times this has occurred in NASA history). In that case, Mike "Spanky" Fincke was the replacement, which is of interest because he was scheduled to do today's EVA (would've been his tenth!), along with Crew-11 Commander, Zena Cardman.
Save travels home, intrepid star voyagers.
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