NASA abandons mission and returns astronauts to Earth over health issue

An ailing astronaut returned to Earth with three others on Thursday, ending their space station mission more than a month early in NASA’s first medical evacuation. SpaceX guided the capsule to a middle-of-the-night splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego, less than 11 hours after the astronauts exited the International Space Station. “It’s so good to be home,” said NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, the capsule commander.