Nasa to carry out first-ever space medical evacuation for astronaut
US-Japanese-Russian crew of four at the International Space Station will return to Earth within days, earlier than planned
Nasa will conduct a medical evacuation in the coming days of an astronaut suffering an undisclosed ailment aboard the International Space Station, agency officials said.
The early return would mark the first time in Nasa’s history that the agency has cut short a crewed mission already in space for medical reasons.
“The astronaut is absolutely stable,” James Polk, Nasa’s chief health and medical officer, told reporters on Thursday. “We’re not immediately disembarking and getting the astronaut down, but it leaves that lingering risk and lingering question as to what that diagnosis is.”
The astronaut will return with the three other members of their mission, called Crew-11, which launched to the International Space Station in August. The mission was slated to last six months, like most of Nasa’s astronaut missions to the ISS, but the emergency return would cut roughly more than a month from their trip.
The team on the mission consists of Nasa astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.
Nasa first acknowledged the medical episode on Wednesday, when the space agency abruptly postponed a January 8 spacewalk in light of the emerging health concern.