SpaceX

SpaceX’s Dragon Endeavour spacecraft drifts away from the International Space Station on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, as NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission winds down. Image: NASA via livestream Update Jan. 14, 6:30 p.m. EST (2330 UTC): NASA, SpaceX confirm safe undocking of the Dragon Endeavour. The SpaceX Crew-11 mission is coming to a close with the crew departing the International Space Station Wednesday evening ahead of a planned splashdown off the coast of California in the predawn hours on Thursday. At 3:29 p.m. EST (2029 UTC), the hatch to the Dragon Endeavour was officially closed and the crew began final preparations for undocking. Crew-11 commander Zena Cardman, pilot Mike Fincke along with mission specialists Kimiya Yui of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and Oleg Platonov gav...

(Left to Right) Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronauts Mike Fincke, Zena Cardman, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya You inside the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour shortly after splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Long Beach, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. Photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls. Four space station crewmates undocked and plunged back to Earth Thursday, safely splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast six days after NASA ordered them home early because of a medical issue. Descending under four large parachutes, Crew 11 commander Zena Cardman, co-pilot Mike Fincke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov landed in the Pacific near San Diego at 3:41 a.m. EST, closing out a 167-day stay in space. ...

The GPS III Space Vehicle 09, the ninth GPS III spacecraft, is pictured traveling by road from Lockheed Martin facilities in Denver, CO, to Florida’s Space Coast. Image: Lockheed Martin The next Global Positioning System satellite is switching from a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket to a SpaceX Falcon 9, a spokesperson for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command System Delta 80 said Tuesday. SpaceX could launch the GPS III Space Vehicle 09 (SV09) within the next few weeks, as the satellite was entering the final stages of pre-flight preparations. As part of the swap, United Launch Alliance (ULA) will instead launch the third of the next generation of Global Positioning System satellites. The GPS III Follow-on (GPS IIIF) SV13 satellite was originally scheduled to launch on a Falcon...

Four SpaceX Crew-11 members gather together for a crew portrait wearing their Dragon pressure suits during a suit verification check inside the International Space Station’s Kibo laboratory module on Jan. 9, 2026. Clockwise from bottom left are, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui. Image: NASA NASA astronaut Mike Fincke wrapped up his time as commander of the International Space Station on Monday, Jan. 12, after just over a month in the position. His time in the role is wrapping up a month earlier than anticipated after NASA decided to medically evacuate the four members of the SpaceX Crew-11 mission due to a “serious medical condition” with one of the four that became...

Crew 11 during training before launch last August (left to right): Cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, Crew 11 commander Zena Cardman and Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui. Image: NASA Four space station fliers have been told to cut their mission short and return to Earth ahead of schedule because of an apparently serious medical issue affecting an unidentified crew member, NASA announced Thursday. “Yesterday, January 7th, a single crew member on board the station experienced a medical situation and is now stable,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said during a news conference. “After discussions with Chief Health and Medical Officer Dr. J.D. Polk and leadership across the agency, I’ve come to the decision that it’s in the best interest of our astronauts to return Crew 11 ahe...