NASA is cutting short the current Crew‑11 mission on the International Space Station (ISS) and returning all four astronauts to Earth after one crew member developed a serious, but currently stable, medical condition.
This is the first time in the ISS’s 25‑year history that a mission is being ended early because of a medical problem.
Four space station fliers have been told to cut their mission short and return to Earth ahead of schedule because of an apparently serious medical issue affecting an unidentified crew member, NASA announced Thursday.“Yesterday, January 7th, a single crew member on board the station experienced a medical situation and is now stable,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said during a news conference.“After discussions with Chief Health and Medical Officer Dr. J.D. Polk and leadership across the agency, I’ve come to the decision that it’s in the best interest of our astronauts to return Crew 11 ahead of their planned departure (in late February). … We expect to provide a further update within the next 48 hours as to the expected, anticipated undock and re-entry timeline.”In keeping with the agency’s strict medical privacy policy, NASA officials have not identified the astronaut in question or provided any details about the nature of the medical issue.
The crew was revving up for a six-and-a-half-hour space walk when the issue was reported. The official reports indicate the medical condition forcing the return is not an injury.
NASA’s chief health and medical officer Dr. James Polk said the medical evacuation is a first in the 25-year history of the International Space Station. Polk said the astronaut needs to be evaluated with equipment on Earth for a full diagnosis.NASA is not revealing which member of the Crew-11 astronauts suffered the medical emergency due to medical privacy. Polk said the medical event had nothing to do with preparations for the spacewalk and was not an injury.Fincke and Cardman make up half of the four-member Crew-11 mission, which arrived at the ISS in August aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. The other Crew-11 members are JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.The postponed spacewalk would have been the first for Cardman and the 10th for Fincke, which would have tied him for the most spacewalks by a NASA astronaut.
NASA and SpaceX are targeting Jan. 14th for the undocking of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission from the ISS. Pending weather and other factors, splashdown is scheduled for early morning on Jan. 15.
If all goes well, Fincke and his crewmates will bid their three station colleagues farewell and undock from the outpost around 5 p.m. EST Wednesday.At 2:50 a.m. Thursday, the Crew Dragon’s braking rockets will fire to slow the ship and drop it out of orbit for splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California at 3:40 a.m.After medical checks aboard a SpaceX recovery ship, the crew will be flown to shore by helicopter, where a NASA plane will be waiting to fly them back to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
I wish the crew a safe and smooth journey back to Earth, and a speedy recovery for the ailing astronaut.
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