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An ailing astronaut and three others are back on Earth. They splashed down overnight in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego, lighting up the sky across Southern California.
Eyewitness News viewers across the region captured video of the SpaceX-guided capsule hurling back down from space a little before 1 a.m. Thursday.
Footage from Freddy Cardenas in Los Angeles shows a huge streak of light across the night sky. He was driving home and had to pull over.
Others in El Segundo and Topanga Canyon also captured incredible video from their vantage point.
The crew was originally scheduled to stay at the International Space station until mid-February.
But, NASA made the decision to bring them home early due to a serious medical condition involving one of the astronauts.
NASA’s Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke were joined on the return by Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. Officials have refused to identify the astronaut who had the health problem or explain what happened, citing medical privacy.
While the astronaut was stable in orbit, NASA wanted them back on Earth as soon as possible to receive proper care and diagnostic testing. The entry and splashdown required no special changes or accommodations, officials said, and the recovery ship had its usual allotment of medical experts on board. It was not immediately known when the astronauts would fly from California to their home base in Houston. Platonov’s return to Moscow was also unclear.
NASA stressed repeatedly over the past week that this was not an emergency. The astronaut fell sick or was injured on Jan. 7, prompting NASA to call off the next day’s spacewalk by Cardman and Fincke, and ultimately resulting in the early return. It was the first time NASA cut short a spaceflight for medical reasons. The Russians had done so decades ago.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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