NASA bringing Crew-11 home from ISS on Saturday due to medical issue
NASA is bringing the four astronauts of Crew-11 back to Earth early because of a medical issue that emerged this week aboard the International Space Station. The agency said the situation is not an emergency and did not disclose which crew member is affected.
The decision was made after the issue came to light Wednesday, with NASA opting to return the crew out of an abundance of caution.
Who’s on board
Crew-11 includes ISS Commander Mike Fincke and flight engineer Zena Cardman of the United States, along with Kimiya Yui of Japan and Oleg Platonov of Russia.
Spacewalk canceled
NASA also canceled a scheduled spacewalk that would have involved Fincke and Cardman. According to CNBC, the planned six-hour outing was set to install routing cables and power equipment for a new solar array.
Crew-11 launched last August from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. The six-month mission had been expected to continue into February or perhaps March.
Medical evacuation decision
NASA described the early return as a “controlled medical evacuation.” Administrator Jared Isaacman said the call was made in the best interest of the astronauts, noting the limited medical capabilities aboard the station.
NASA’s chief health and medical officer, Dr. James Polk, said the affected astronaut is stable, but acknowledged that “there’s some lingering risk for that astronaut on board.”
‘And so always, we err on the side of the astronaut’s health and welfare,” Polk said.
What happens next
Crew-11 is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. Their departure will leave three astronauts aboard the station: NASA’s Christopher Williams and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikayev, who arrived in November.
Those astronauts will continue to operate the station, though NASA says some research activities may be scaled back. Installation of the new solar array will be rescheduled.
NASA’s next mission, SpaceX Crew-12, has been slated to launch after mid-February. NASA and SpaceX are now exploring whether that launch can be moved up.
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