Rare Space Station Evacuation Sends SpaceX Crew Dragon Streaking Over California
Central Californians got a rare overnight spectacle as a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule streaked across the sky during its de-orbit burn, ahead of a splashdown off the coast of San Diego.
Amazing @SpaceX @NASA pic.twitter.com/IzxTvd2CXN
— Nick Shelly (@NShelly) January 15, 2026
Video from my roof of @SpaceX Dragon streaking across the sky over LA tonight. Inside this 10,000 degree plasma cocoon traveling at 8 km/sec are four amazing humans. Welcome home @NASA Crew-11! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/XoxkyaFppK
— Jon Edwards (@edwards345) January 15, 2026
SpaceX Dragon re entering! The speed was absolutely insane! Shot from Fresno area central Ca pic.twitter.com/pe9SHYLMVA
— ⚡️Dezmond Oliver⚡️ (@dezmondOliver) January 15, 2026
The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carried Mike Fincke, Zena Cardman, Kimiya Yui, and Oleg Platonov and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego at 0341 EST, about 10.5 hours after undocking from the International Space Station.
The astronauts returned one month early after one of the astronauts experienced a medical issue. This marked the first time in ISS history - or about three decades of operation - that a mission was shortened due to astronaut health.
NASA has not identified either the astronaut or the medical issue, but it was severe enough that a spacewalk by two of its astronauts was canceled last week.
"It is not an emergency de-orbit, even though we always retain that capability, and NASA and our partners train for that routinely," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told reporters last week. Instead, he added, the mission team decided to bring Crew-11 home early because "the capability to diagnose and treat this properly does not live on the International Space Station."
Dragon’s four main parachutes have deployed pic.twitter.com/PAr3laJGN5
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 15, 2026
Welcome home.