How does NASA handle astronaut medical issues in space?
NASA just postponed a spacewalk because of a medical concern with an astronaut. Here's how the agency has handled such issues in the past.
NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei is pictured attached to the outside of the International Space Station during a spacewalk on Oct. 10, 2017. In August 2020, Vande Hei and Japanese crewmate Akihiko Hoshide had their EVA called off due to a "minor medical issue." (Image credit: NASA)
NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman were expected to perform a spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Thursday (Jan. 8), but it was called off Wednesday afternoon (Jan. 7) due to "medical concerns" with an unidentified crew member.
Those concerns apparently grew in the hours that followed, prompting NASA to issue a follow-up statement to its EVA (extravehicular activity) cancellation, indicating that bringing astronauts home early is on the table.
"Safely conducting our missions is our highest priority, and we are actively evaluating all options, including the possibility of an earlier end to Crew-11’s mission," an emailed update from the agency early Thursday reads.
Crew-11 is SpaceX's latest astronaut mission to the ISS, which sent Fincke, Cardman, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and cosmonaut Oleg Platonov to the orbiting lab in early August for a six-month stay. The quartet are currently scheduled to come home sometime after the mid-February arrival of Crew-12.
Three other astronauts are living on the ISS at the moment as well: NASA's Christopher Williams and cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikayev, who arrived on Nov. 27 aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
We still don't know which astronaut is experiencing the medical issue; NASA privacy policies prevent the agency from revealing such information.
This is not the first time that NASA has postponed an EVA due to medical concerns. But, if Crew-11 leaves early, it would be the first time that ISS astronauts had to prematurely end their orbital stint for health reasons.
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Spacewalks are not a simple endeavor for NASA or its astronauts to undertake. Space is unforgiving, and the suits that keep astronauts safe once they step into the void are complex — they are essentially people-sized spaceships. The process for putting on an EVA suit and preparing for a spacewalk takes up to five hours, and once the airlock opens, there's no speedy way to take the suit off if something goes wrong.