Medical Emergency Causes NASA To Abort Space Mission

HOUSTON -  NASA has made an "unprecedented" decision to bring a crew home early from the International Space Station after a medical emergency in orbit, marking the first time in the station’s 25-year history that a mission has been cut short for health reasons.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said, on January 8th, that a single crew member experienced a medical situation aboard the station on January 7th and is now stable. After consultations with medical and agency leadership, he ordered the early return of the crew.

"For over 60 years, NASA has set the standard for safety and security in crewed space flight," Isaacman said during a news conference. The SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft would bring Crew-11 back to Earth within the coming days, ahead of their planned return later this year. The crew arrived at the ISS in August and was set to spend six to eight months there.  The crew includes Commander Zena Cardman, pilot Mike Fincke, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.  Space historian and NASA expert Rod Pyle said the decision represents a historic first in U.S. human spaceflight.  "The declaration of a medical emergency in space is unprecedented, certainly in the operation of the International Space Station, which has been crewed continuously for 25 years," Pyle said. "They did have one notable medical emergency, in the past, when an astronaut suffered deep vein thrombosis, but they were able to actually stabilize that in orbit and continue on the mission." "This is the first time in the history of the ISS. And as far as I remember, the first time in the history of the American space program, where somebody had to be brought home early, in effect, evacuated from orbit."   "Now some of that load will probably be handed off to the astronauts that remain behind. That'll be three of them.