Astronaut medical issue on ISS forces early return for space station crew

A “serious medical condition” affecting a crew member aboard the International Space Station has prompted NASA to return the astronaut and three crewmates to Earth months earlier than planned, marking the first such emergency return in the orbiting laboratory’s 25-year history, senior agency officials said.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told reporters on Thursday in a short-notice press conference in Washington that he and medical officials made the decision to return the astronaut, whose identity has not been disclosed, because “the capability to diagnose and treat this properly does not live on the International Space Station.”

Officials did not reveal which of the Crew-11 mission’s four astronauts was affected or the nature of the medical issue, citing privacy concerns. NASA Chief Health and Medical Officer James Polk emphasized that “this was not an injury that occurred in the pursuit of operations,” indicating it did not happen during work on the station.

NASA had called off a planned spacewalk with two US astronauts on Wednesday afternoon, originally scheduled for Thursday, citing a “medical concern” with an astronaut. The agency later said in a midnight statement that it was considering ending the astronaut’s rotation mission early.

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The Crew-11 team includes US astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. They launched from Florida in August and had been scheduled to return around May.

Fincke, the station’s designated commander, and Cardman, assigned as flight engineer, were set to conduct a 6.5-hour spacewalk on Thursday to install hardware outside the station.

Medical situations on the ISS are closely held secrets, and astronauts rarely disclose their conditions publicly. Spacewalks are arduous missions requiring months of training, bulky spacesuits, and carefully coordinated procedures while tethered to the station.

NASA previously canceled a spacewalk in 2024 due to “spacesuit discomfort,” and US astronaut Mark Vande Hei called off his spacewalk in 2021 due to a pinched nerve.