Nasa astronaut Mike Fincke, Nasa’s Zena Cardman, Japan’s Kimiya Yui, and cosmonaut Oleg Platonov returned to Earth and splashed down off the coast of California after leaving the ISS one month early. Nasa administrator Jared Isaacman said the sick astronaut was “fine right now” and in “good spirits,” and the crew was set to receive medical checks before being flown back to land. Control of the ISS was handed over to Russian cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and two other crew members, leaving three astronauts on board until another four arrive in February. The evacuation was the first due to a health issue since the ISS entered orbit in 1998, and the ISS has been continuously inhabited since 2000.