A spacewalk planned for Thursday outside the International Space Station was canceled late Wednesday due to “medical issues” with an unidentified crew member, NASA said in a statement.
The message shortly before midnight said the agency was exploring “all options, including the possibility of ending the Crew 11 mission earlier.”
Spacewalkers Mike Finke and Zena Cardman. / Credit: NASA
“These are situations that NASA and our partners are preparing for and preparing to handle safely,” it said. “We will provide further updates over the next 24 hours.”
While NASA did not identify the astronaut in question or explain the medical issue (standard practice due to privacy concerns), the agency said “the case involved one crew member who is in stable condition.”
Space station commander Mike Finke, flight engineer Zena Cardman, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov traveled to the space station aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon ferry in August. 1.
In the new year, the crew expected to remain in space until a replacement arrived in mid-February. Crew 11 is expected to return to Earth around February 20th. This is still the official plan.
Meanwhile, Cardman, 38, and Finke, 58, a veteran of nine spacewalks on previous missions, planned to go outside the station on Thursday to finish building a truss needed to support a set of roll-out solar panels, as well as other routine maintenance.
A second spacewalk by two astronauts, yet to be announced, was scheduled for next week.
Japanese astronauts Kimiya Yui and Chris Williams planned to help Finke and Cardman prepare the tools and equipment that would be needed outside the space station. / Credit: NASA
But NASA canceled the first spacewalk earlier Wednesday, saying “the agency is monitoring a medical issue with a crew member that arose Wednesday afternoon. Due to the confidentiality of NASA's medical information, it is not appropriate to disclose more detailed information about the crew member.”
“The situation is stable. Additional details, including a new date for the upcoming spacewalk, will be shared by NASA at a later date.”
In a brief radio conversation between space and ground just after 2:30 pm EST, Yui called mission control in Houston and asked for a private medical conference, or PMC.
Mission Control responded that a PMC using a private radio channel would be created in the near future. Yui then asked if the flight surgeon was available and if the controllers had a live feed from the camera inside the station.
“Houston, do we still have the camera view of Node 2, er, 3, the lab?” – Yui asked.
“We don’t have internal cameras right now, but we can include a view from the laboratory if you want,” the mission control communicator replied.
“I appreciate it,” Yui replied. He then asked, “Do you have some sort of crew surgeon?… Flight surgeon?”
No additional conversations were heard. Later Wednesday, NASA's audio feed from the space station, which was usually broadcast 24 hours a day on YouTube, stopped without explanation.
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