NASA is weighing a rare early return of a four-person crew from the International Space Station after one astronaut suffered a sudden health issue, the space agency announced Wednesday night.
The surprising update about Crew-11 comes after a planned Thursday spacewalk was abruptly canceled.
“Safely conducting our missions is our highest priority, and we are actively evaluating all options, including the possibility of an earlier end to Crew-11’s mission,” a NASA spokesperson said in a statement.
“These are the situations NASA and our partners train for and prepare to execute safely. We will provide further updates within the next 24 hours.”
The agency didn’t identify the astronaut or specify the medical emergency that arose on on Wednesday afternoon, but stated that the crew member is in stable condition on the orbiting laboratory.
Astronauts generally spend up to eight months on the ISS and are equipped with basic medical supplies and medications to treat certain health issues during their stay.
Crew-11 — made up of US astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Russia’s Oleg Platnov — launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon and docked at the ISS in August.
They were expected to return in May.
Fincke, the station’s commander, and Cardman, the flight manager, were scheduled to leave the space station on Thursday and conduct a nearly 7-hour spacewalk to install hardware outside.
In recent years, other planned spacewalks were suddenly called off, including one last year when an astronaut experienced “spacesuit discomfort.”
US astronaut Mark Vande Hei also canceled his spacewalk in 2021 over a pinched nerve.
With Post wires.
