Astronauts return to Earth after medical evacuation
Astronauts were said to be 'good spirits' after the splashdown.
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Hello, and welcome to this week’s edition of The View from Space.
🤒 Four astronauts forced to leave the International Space Station a month early splashed down to Earth off the California coast. Crew-11’s trip was cut short because of a medical issue involving one crew member. The BBC reports:
‘The crew of Dragon Endeavour has returned to Earth safely after one of the astronauts developed a medical issue on the International Space Station. In a splash down earlier today, Crew-11 landed in the Pacific Ocean off the Californian coast.
Americans Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and cosmonaut Oleg Platonov were in space for 167 days before their mission was cut short. The astronauts appeared jubilant before being taken for medical evaluation.
In a news conference, Nasa administrator Jared Isaacman said the crew were safe and “in good spirits”, adding that Nasa would share updates on the affected crew member’s health “as soon as it is appropriate to do so.” Nasa’s Joel Montalbano acknowledged the crew would have been saddened by the mission being cut short, but hailed their professionalism, adding they understood “what happens when you fly in space”..’
🚀 Space is becoming ‘an industrial economy’, argue Richard M. Harrison and Peter A. Garretson in SpaceNews. They believe that if space is becoming industrial infrastructure, then ‘it will need to be financed the same way as industrial infrastructure, moving beyond venture capital toward debt finance, insurance markets, and long-duration contracts’":
‘There is now significant hype around emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and nuclear fusion. But despite their promise, many of these will take years to mature. Meanwhile, it’s increasingly obvious that space has already become a mature arena, with a steady drumbeat of space-related innovations and a space-based economy projected to grow from over $600 billion to $1.8 trillion annually within a decade.
But, as Donald Moore, CEO of the Space Finance Company and a space policy lecturer at the University of Michigan, puts it, “for the U.S. space market to prosper and grow to that full potential, it needs to have an equally mature capital structure, including the full range of venture capital, private equity, streamlined government contracts, debt capital and structured finance.”.’
🛰️ Orbion Space Technology has completed the delivery of 33 electric propulsion units to York Space Systems for a U.S. military satellite constellation. These flight-ready propulsion systems, which are designed, built, tested, and qualified at Orbion’s vertically integrated facility in Michigan, allow small satellites to maintain precise orbits, perform collision avoidance manoeuvres, and de-orbit at the end of their mission life. SpaceNews reports:
‘York Chief Technology Officer Michael Lajczok said building and sustaining national security constellations requires partners who are “proven on orbit and reliable in production.” Orbion said propulsion units from earlier production runs are already operating on York spacecraft in orbit. …
Brad King, Orbion’s co-founder and chief executive, said the company completed delivery of the 33 thrusters to York in November 2025. He told SpaceNews Orbion has ramped production in response to rising orders from both government and commercial customers.
Orbion’s factory in Houghton, Michigan, currently produces about 12 propulsion units per month, King said. “We’ve demonstrated 150 units a year, and we’re incredibly proud of that. We expect to increase that by about 50% next year and then again the year after.”’
🌍 Former SES CTO Martin Halliwell, a Partner at NewSpace Capital, argues that politics is stalling Europe’s progress in space, despite the continent’s ‘world-class talent’. As he puts it in Aerospace Global News:
‘Elon Musk is a Marmite figure, but his intelligence and talent as an engineer are rarely disputed. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that Europe could produce someone, perhaps many people, capable of building something like SpaceX.
The continent is awash with talent, nourished by its many leading research institutions and nurtured by traditions of openness and free inquiry. In theory, this should give rise to the kind of creativity and energy often associated with Musk’s company.
The problem is that bureaucracy and bottlenecks soon appear. Europe’s most dynamic people struggle to secure funding, to open channels to space and defence agencies, to compete with large legacy players, and to move quickly within a pan-European system that was, to a great extent, designed to ensure fairness between different countries rather than to unleash talented individuals and allow their companies to reach their potential on the global stage.’
🛢️ Citing satellite analysis from the energy and environmental intelligence company Kayrros, the FT reports that Venezuela’s oil facilities are in ‘a catastrophic state’, blaming disrepair, under-investment and the ‘cannibalisation of equipment’:
‘Among visual signs of neglect are corroded tanks and unusual storage patterns at the country’s facilities, according to analysis by satellite intelligence company Kayrros.
While Venezuela holds about 17 per cent of the world’s proven crude reserves, and pumped more than 3.5mn barrels a day at its peak in the 1970s, today it produces less than a third of that total, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
Years of under-investment have left facilities and networks in tatters. Chronic maintenance failures have led to fires, explosions and leaks.’
😍 And Kimiya Yui, recently onboard the International Space Station, captured these breathtaking images of the Northern Lights: