NASA orders “controlled medical evacuation” from the International Space Station

NASA officials said Thursday they have decided to bring home four of the seven crew members on the International Space Station after one of them experienced a “medical condition” earlier this week.

The space agency has said little about the incident, and officials have not said which crew member suffered a medical problem. James “JD” Polk, NASA’s chief health and medical officer, told reporters Thursday that the crew member is “absolutely stable” but that the agency was “erring the caution” in the decision to return the astronauts to Earth.

The ill astronaut is part of the Crew-11 mission, which launched to the station on August 1 and was scheduled to return to Earth around February 20. Instead, the Crew-11 astronauts will depart the International Space Station (ISS) in the coming days for reentry and a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.

,“After discussions with our Chief Health and Medical Officer, Dr. J.D. Polk, and agency leadership, I have come to the decision that returning Crew-11 before their planned departure is in the best interest of our astronauts,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said Thursday.

The Crew-11 mission is led by Commander Jenna Cardman, 38, who is completing her first mission in space. Second in command is pilot Mike Fincke, a 58-year-old astronaut on his fourth space flight. Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, 55, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, 39, visited the crew.

Isaacman said NASA will release more details about Crew-11’s undocking and re-entry schedule within the next 48 hours. The crew will return home aboard the same SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft that they launched with more than five months ago. The entire crew must return to Earth together as they rely on the same Dragon spacecraft as a lifeboat.

“For more than 60 years, NASA has set the standard for safety and security in crewed space flight,” Isaacman said. “In these efforts, including 25 years of continuous human presence on the International Space Station, the health and well-being of our astronauts is and will always be our top priority.”

long term risk

Polk, a physician who has served as NASA’s chief medical officer since 2016, said the agency is unwilling to release details about the medical issue, citing privacy concerns. “I’m not going to talk about any particular astronaut or any particular specific diagnosis,” Polk said. “I would request that we still respect the astronaut’s privacy.”