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NASA is considering a rare early return of its crew from the International Space Station due to an unspecified medical issue with one of the astronauts after canceling a planned spacewalk scheduled for Thursday, the agency said.
A NASA spokeswoman said the astronaut with the medical condition, whom she did not name, was in stable condition in an orbiting laboratory.
“The safe execution of our missions is our highest priority, and we are actively evaluating all options, including the possibility of ending the Crew 11 mission earlier,” the spokeswoman said in a statement Wednesday evening.
In an earlier statement, NASA said it was “following up on a medical issue with a crew member that occurred Wednesday afternoon.”
Astronauts typically live on the ISS on six- to eight-month rotations, with access to basic medical equipment and medications for some emergencies.
The four-member Crew 11 crew includes American astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Finke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. They had been on the space station since launch from Florida in August and were expected to return around May of this year.
Finke, assigned as station commander, and Cardman, assigned as flight engineer, were scheduled to conduct a 6.5-hour spacewalk Thursday to install equipment outside the station.
NASA's astronaut corps considers the medical situation on the ISS a closely guarded secret, and astronauts rarely admit or describe their health conditions publicly.
Spacewalks are difficult and risky missions that require months of training, including bulky spacesuits and carefully coordinated instructions while tethered to the ISS.
In 2024, NASA canceled a planned spacewalk at the last minute because the astronaut experienced “discomfort in the spacesuit.” American astronaut Mark Vande Hei refused to go into outer space in 2021 due to a pinched nerve.
