A SpaceX capsule departed the International Space Station on Wednesday, January 14, 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

899K views · 4.3K reactions | The international space station orbits around the Earth 16 times a day, its direction and speed is predetermined but because of Earth’s rotation it follows a path shown in the animation. Due to atmospheric drag it has boosters to maintain its altitude. Right now there are 9 astronauts on board, 2 more than planned, soon there will be 11 on board ☺️ - Credit Janosch Gaia | Wil Photography | Facebook