NASA considers rare early ISS crew return over astronaut’s medical issue

WASHINGTON - NASA is considering a rare early return of an astronaut and its crew from the International Space Station (ISS) over an unspecified medical issue, hours after cancelling a planned spacewalk that had been scheduled for Jan 8, the agency said.

A NASA spokeswoman said the astronaut, who she did not identify out of medical privacy, was in a stable condition on the orbiting laboratory.

“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,” the spokeswoman said in a statement on the night of Jan 7.

NASA said in an earlier statement it was “monitoring a medical concern with a crew member that arose the afternoon of Jan 7”.

Returning the four-person Crew-11 crew would be a rare consequence of a medical issue aboard the ISS, where astronauts typically live in six to eight-month rotations with access to basic medical equipment and medications for some types of emergencies.

The four-person Crew-11 crew includes US astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.

They have been on the space station since launching from Florida in August and were scheduled to return around May 2026. Mr Fincke, the station’s designated commander, and Ms Cardman, assigned as flight engineer, were scheduled to conduct a 6.5-hour spacewalk on Jan 8 to install hardware outside the station.

NASA’s astronaut corps regards medical situations on the ISS as closely held secrets, and astronauts rarely acknowledge or describe publicly their medical conditions.

Spacewalks are arduous and risky missions that require months of training, involving bulky spacesuits and carefully coordinated instructions while tethered to the ISS.

NASA in 2024 called off a planned spacewalk last-minute because an astronaut experienced “spacesuit discomfort”. US astronaut Mark Vande Hei in 2021 called off his spacewalk over a pinched nerve. REUTERS