NASA has cut the mission short due to a medical concern with one of the astronauts.
International Space Station Change of Command Ceremony
SpaceX’s Crew-11 is returning from the International Space Station (ISS) early due to a medical concern with one of its astronauts. It’s the first recorded case in which NASA has decided to bring home a crew member ahead of time due to a health issue.
Crew-11 comprises Americans Michael Fincke and Zena Cardman, along with Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. They arrived at the ISS in August last year and were due to return to Earth next month.
NASA has declined to reveal any details about the medical issue, and hasn’t said which astronaut is affected. But the recently appointed NASA chief Jared Isaacman described the issue as a “serious medical condition,” adding that it was he who made the decision to cut the mission short. NASA has described the astronaut’s condition as “stable.”
All four appeared in a livestream on Monday for the change-of-command ceremony ahead of their flight home aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.
All seven of the ISS inhabitants spoke during the livestream, with Cardman acknowledging the unusual situation.
“Our timing of this departure is unexpected,” Cardman, on her first orbital mission, said in the livestream. “But what was not surprising to me was how well this crew came together as a family to help each other and just take care of each other, and this includes very much our teams on the ground — you have been incredible support through this whole expedition, this whole journey.”
NASA and SpaceX are targeting 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday, January 14, for the undocking of the Crew Dragon from the space station. If they’re able to stick to that schedule, the crew will splash down off the coast of California at about 3:40 a.m ET on Thursday, January 15.
NASA said it’s monitoring the weather in the splashdown site and will adjust timings if the conditions are forecast to deteriorate.
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
How to watch SpaceX Crew-11 splash down a month early
A medical issue with one of the astronauts prompted NASA to bring the crew home early.
It’s turned into an unusual mission for SpaceX’s Crew-11. Instead of remaining at the International Space Station (ISS) for the full duration of their mission, the four crew members are coming home a month early due to a medical issue with one of the astronauts.
Crew-11 departed the ISS on Wednesday afternoon and is due to splash down in the early hours of Thursday. Read on for full details on how to watch.
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‘Serious medical condition’ prompts NASA to bring ISS crew home early
It’s the first time in NASA’s history that an astronaut mission has been cut short in such circumstances.
NASA has made the rare move of cutting short a crewed mission to the ISS. An undisclosed medical issue with an unnamed crew member has prompted NASA to bring home SapceX’s Crew-11 in the coming days, the agency announced at a press conference on Thursday.
The decision followed news on Wednesday that NASA had called off a spacewalk, which was set to take place early on Thursday, due to “a medical situation aboard the International Space Station [involving] a single crew member who is stable.”
Trevor Mogg
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