Jan. 8 (UPI) — NASA said Thursday that four astronauts aboard the International Space Station will return to Earth a month earlier than scheduled after one of them suffered a “serious medical condition.”
Neither the astronaut nor the medical issue were made public, with NASA officials saying they were withholding the information due to medical privacy.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told reporters in a press conference that they expect to announce an anticipated undock and re-entry timeline in the next 42 hours.
It will be the first medical early return of an astronaut in the 25-year history of the orbiting laboratory.
“After discussions with chief health and medical officer Dr. J.D. Polk and leadership across the agency, I’ve come to the decision that it’s in the best interest of our astronauts to return Crew-11 ahead of their planned departure,” Isaacman said.
NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov make up Crew-11, which launched on Aug. 1 for the ISS aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Polk said the affected astronaut was “absolutely stable” but had suffered a medical incident “sufficient enough” that they would be best served by a complete evaluation on Earth.
“Again, because the astronaut is absolutely stable, this is not an emergent evacuation,” he said. “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, and that means there’s some lingering risk for that astronaut aboard.”
Though it is ISS’ first medical evacuation, Polk said it was being carried out as NASA was “erring on the side of caution for the crew member and in their best interest and their best medical welfare.”
The announcement came hours after NASA postponed Thursday’s spacewalk from the ISS due to an astronaut medical issue involving a single crew member.
“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,” NASA said in a statement. “These are the situations NASA and our partners train for and prepare to execute safely.”
Crew-11 was originally scheduled to complete its mission and return to Earth in late February, after being relieved by Crew-12.
Isaacman said they are now looking at earlier launch opportunities for Crew-12 to reach the ISS.
Until then, NASA astronaut Christopher Williams, who launched to the station late November, will maintain a U.S. presence on the orbital laboratory.
Along with Williams, the ISS is inhabited by cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikayev, who arrived via Russian Soyuz on Nov. 27.