Four astronauts who left the International Space Station (ISS) a month early due to one of the crew members falling ill have returned to Earth on Thursday.

Crew 11 disembarked the Dragon Endeavour at about 01:30 local time (09:30 GMT) after an 11 hour journey back to Earth, splashing down off the coast of California.

The astronauts, Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, arrived on the ISS on 1 August expecting to complete a standard six and a half month stay.

Nasa did not disclose details of the illness due to privacy reasons.

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