Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/NASA
Topics: International Space Station, NASA, Space
William Morgan
Topics: International Space Station, NASA, Space
Four astronauts are being brought back down to Earth months ahead of schedule after a 'serious' medical emergency on the International Space Station (ISS).
The emergency evacuation, the first that NASA has ever been forced to carry out on the ISS, was announced at a short-notice press conference on Thursday (January 8) with senior space officials keeping tight-lipped on the details.
NASA administrator Jared Isaacman shared with reporters that one of the astronauts, who was not named, had been diagnosed with a 'serious medical condition' while orbiting 250 miles above the Earth on the ISS.
Isaacman said they were forced to evacuate the station and bring all four astronauts home after consulting with medical experts and establishing that they did not have 'the capability to diagnose and treat this properly... on the International Space Station'.
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No other details about the medical emergency were revealed by NASA officials, citing the astronaut's privacy. But they did clarify that this serious medical issue had not 'occurred in the pursuit of operations', nor was it an injury.
While the unnamed astronaut was said to be in a 'stable' condition, Isaacman stated that they needed to return to Earth so that further diagnostics and treatment could take place.
A NASA spokesperson told Sky News that safety was their 'highest priority' and the agency was 'actively evaluating all options, including the possibility of an earlier end to Crew-11's mission'.
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This means that those on the ISS, American astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan's Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov will all be making their return journey months earlier than planned.
The team, called Crew-11, has over 1,100 days of combined space experience and joined the ISS in August after launching from Florida, Metro reports, with the team originally scheduled to return to Earth in May.
Station Commander Fincke and engineer Cardman were scheduled to carry out a gruelling 6.5-hour spacewalk to install new hardware on the outside of the orbiting station, but the space agency cancelled the mission.
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Isaacman said: "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."
Providing additional clarity on the astronaut's circumstances, Dr Polk said: "It's not an emergency evacuation, but we are erring on the side of caution for the crew member."
The space agency has said it will announce a plan to return the astronauts over the weekend, with NBC News reporting that NASA is considering whether to replace Crew-11 with Crew-12, which was scheduled to visit the ISS on February 15.