I'm using an ipad mini 2. I am currently running IOS 9.2. I let the store auto-update.

So I sent out my wasteland explorer and he was out there for about 50 hours. I recalled him and he was almost back with about 1 hour left on the return clock when i was scrolling through the list of explorers and i accidently hit the "explore" button. I quickly hit the recall button again but his return timer reset to 25 hours. Is this normal or am I experiencing an issue?

For me, this is normal behavior. I noticed this 2 months ago. if you press the button back and forth, they toggle and reset their clocks.