Cape Canaveral, Florida – Left astronaut needs doctors care International Space Station with three crew members on Wednesday in NASA’s first medical evacuation.
The four returning astronauts — from the United States, Russia and Japan — aim to land early Thursday morning in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego with SpaceX. The decision shortens their mission by more than a month.
“The timing of our departure is unexpected, but what was not surprising to me was how much this crew came together as a family to help each other and take care of each other,” NASA astronaut Xena Cardman said before the return flight.
Officials declined to provide identification The astronaut who needed care last week He will not disclose health concerns.
Outgoing space station commander Mike Finke said earlier this week on social media that the sick astronaut was “stable, safe and receiving good care.” “This was a deliberate decision to allow the correct medical assessments to be carried out on the ground, where the full range of diagnostic capability exists.”
It was launched in AugustCardman, Finke, Japanese Kimiya Yui, and Russian Oleg Platonov were supposed to remain on the space station until late February. But on January 7, NASA abruptly canceled Cardman and Finke’s spacewalk the next day, and later announced the crew’s early return. Officials said the health issue was not related to spacewalk preparations or other station operations, but did not provide further details, citing medical confidentiality. They stressed that it was not an emergency.
NASA said it will adhere to the same entry and landing procedures at the end of the flight, with the usual lineup of medical experts on board the Pacific rescue ship. This was another midnight return for the SpaceX crew, less than 11 hours after separation from the space station. NASA said it is not yet known how quickly the four will be transported from California to Houston, home of the Johnson Space Center and the astronaut base.
An American astronaut and two Russian astronauts remain aboard the orbiting laboratory, just a month and a half into an eight-month mission that began with Soyuz rocket launch from Kazakhstan. NASA and SpaceX are accelerating the launch of a new four-person crew from Florida, currently targeted for a mid-February launch.
Computer modeling predicted a medical evacuation from the space station would occur every three years, but NASA has not performed a medical evacuation in 65 years Human space flight. The Russians were not so lucky. In 1985, Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Vasyutin contracted a serious infection or related illness aboard his country’s Salyut 7 space station, leading to his early return. A few other Soviet cosmonauts had less serious health problems that shortened their flights.
It was the first space flight for Cardman, 38, a biologist and polar explorer who missed a spacewalk, as well as Platonov, 39, a former Russian Air Force fighter pilot who had to wait a few extra years to get into space due to an undisclosed health issue. Cardman was supposed to launch last year but was bumped to make room on its way down NASA Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williamswho had been stuck for nearly a year on the space station due to problems with the Boeing capsule.
Finke, 58, a retired Air Force colonel, and Yue, 55, a retired fighter pilot with the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, were repeat astronauts. Finke spent a year and a half in orbit on four missions and performed nine spacewalks on previous missions, making him one of NASA’s best-performing astronauts. Last week, Yue celebrated his 300th day in space with two stays on the station, where he shared stunning views of Earth, including Japan’s Mount Fuji and the breathtaking aurora borealis.
“I want to burn her fiercely in my eyes, and even more so, in my heart. Soon, I will also become one of those little lights on earth,” Yue said on social media platform X.
Leaving an astronaut in space without proper medical care for another month is more risky than temporarily reducing the space station’s crew size by more than half, NASA officials said. Until SpaceX delivers another crew, NASA said it will have to stop any routine or even emergency spacewalks, a two-person mission that requires backup crew assistance inside the orbital complex.
Medevac was the first major decision made by new NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. The billionaire founder of the payments processing company and two-time astronaut took over the agency’s top job in December.
“The health and well-being of our astronauts has always been and will continue to be our top priority,” Isaacman said in announcing the decision last week.
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