NASA Crew-11 Will Return Early Due to Medical Situation
NASA’s Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station will make an unprecedented early return to Earth due to a medical situation involving one of the four astronauts. In a Thursday press conference, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya, and Chief Health & Medical Officer Dr. James Polk explained that although the situation is serious enough to warrant a return, it does not require an immediate deorbit, and the crew will follow established procedures to return home. The agency is still evaluating the exact return date, and is considering opportunities to launch Crew-12 earlier than its current target date in mid-February.
NASA originally planned for two members of Crew-11, astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, to conduct a spacewalk on January 8th to prepare the station for the future installation of a new solar array. However, the agency said in a statement on January 7th that the spacewalk had been postponed due to a medical concern with one of the station’s crew. For privacy reasons, neither the crew member involved nor the nature of their condition has been disclosed, except that the crew member is “absolutely stable,” and the incident was not related to the spacewalk or any other operational activities.
Dr. Polk explained during the press event that the station’s crew immediately came to the aid of the affected crew member, and ground personnel were involved in diagnosis according to standard procedure. While the space station is equipped to identify and treat many common medical issues, it lacks the capabilities needed to comprehensively evaluate the involved crew member. Therefore, the decision was made to return the crew member to Earth, along with the rest of Crew-11 aboard Crew Dragon Endeavour.
The agency expects to announce an updated timeline for Crew-11’s departure within the next few days. The remainder of Expedition 74, U.S. astronaut Christopher Williams and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikayev, will operate the ISS in the meantime. The reduced crew complement will limit the volume of work that can be completed, but Kshatriya noted that both Williams and his cosmonaut colleagues can respond to further contingencies with ground support if required.
Mr. Isaacman and Mr. Kshatriya emphasized that the return exercises capabilities that NASA and its international and commercial partners have always planned for. While the event is unprecedented as the station’s first medical evacuation in its 25-year history, NASA and the crew members train for situations exactly like this one. Crew returns always involve medical personnel and facilities on standby in case of emergency.
Mr. Isaacman also asserted that the timeline for launching Artemis II, NASA’s upcoming crewed return to the Moon, will not be affected by the events on station. Artemis II is currently targeting a launch date as soon as February 6th, while Crew-12 was slated to launch no earlier than February 15th. Any delay to Artemis II, or an earlier launch of Crew-12, could bring those dates closer to one another, though Mr. Isaacman said there is “no reason to believe” the two will come into conflict.
These developments bear a passing resemblance to an incident that took place in the summer of 2024, where a normal training exercise for an on-orbit medical event was inadvertently broadcast over the public space-to-ground channel, leading to a brief scare that an emergency Earth return was underway. While that event was merely a drill, it serves to underscore Mr. Isaacman’s point that NASA and its international and commercial partners have planned and prepared extensively for situations such as these.
Co-written and edited by Alejandro Turnbull
