NASA may end Crew-11 mission early after astronaut medical issue

NASA said it may bring Crew-11 home early from the International Space Station after an astronaut experienced an undisclosed medical issue and was reported to be stable. The agency canceled a spacewalk that had been planned for Thursday.

NASA did not identify the astronaut or give details about the medical issue, saying only that safely conducting missions is its highest priority and that it was evaluating options, including an earlier end to Crew-11’s mission. The agency previously said it was postponing a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk that was to focus on power upgrade work.

The postponed spacewalk would have been carried out by station commander Michael Fincke and flight manager Zena Cardman. Fincke and Cardman flew to the station on Aug. 1 aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon with Kimiya Yui of Japan and Oleg Platonov of Russia on what was expected to be about a six-month stay; six months will have elapsed in the first week of February.

Three other astronauts are aboard the station—Chris Williams of NASA and Russians Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikaev—who are scheduled to return to Earth in a Soyuz spacecraft in the summer. NASA said the next U.S. four-member crew was to depart no earlier than Feb. 15, and it was not clear whether that date would change if Crew-11 returned early.

Key Topics

Science, Nasa, International Space Station, Crew Dragon, Michael Fincke, Zena Cardman