This was the first evacuation prompted by a medical issue in NASA’s near 68-year history, and the first from the ISS since it became continuously inhabited in 2000.

In an unprecedented move, NASA is bringing an astronaut crew home early from the International Space Station because one astronaut has an undisclosed medical condition.

NASA completed its first-ever medical evacuation from space, bringing four astronauts back to Earth early after a health issue aboard the International Space Station.

A SpaceX ship recovered the spacecraft from the ocean and at around 1:30 a.m. and welcomed aboard NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, plus Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Oleg Platonov of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency.

Depending on the timing, NASA could launch a fresh crew to the space station while four other astronauts are flying around the moon.

The NASA International Space Station (ISS) crew that included a sick astronaut splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California, early on Thursday morning. "Welcome home, Crew-11!" NASA said in an update, adding that the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft hit the on water on schedule at 12:41 a.m. PT.

The Trump administration is indefinitely suspending visa processing for immigrants from 75 countries, including Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Haiti, Somalia and Russia. Starting next week, the move will block visas for many people seeking to work in the US or reunite with their families.