Astronauts begin early return flight from space station with ailing crew member

A SpaceX capsule departed the International Space Station on Wednesday carrying a four-member crew on an emergency return flight to Earth necessitated by an unspecified serious medical condition afflicting one of the astronauts aboard.



The Crew Dragon capsule carrying two U.S. NASA astronauts, a Japanese crewmate and a Russian cosmonaut undocked from the space station and began ⁠its descent from orbit at about 5:20 p.m. EST (2220 GMT) headed for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast early on Thursday.



Live video from a NASA webcast of the departure showed the capsule separating from the ISS and drifting away from the orbiting laboratory as the two vehicles soared some 260 miles (418 km) over the Earth south of Australia.



The astronauts were seen strapped into the Crew Dragon cabin, seated side by side and wearing their helmeted white and black space suits as the undocking proceeded.