NASA decides to bring Crew-11 home early after astronaut health scare

NASA is bringing the Crew-11 astronauts back to Earth early after one encountered a medical issue that could not be dealt with aboard the orbiting outpost.

On Wednesday, the astronauts were preparing for a spacewalk scheduled for Thursday. However, after the spacewalk was postponed due to a medical concern, NASA concluded by the end of Thursday that bringing the crew back to Earth early – likely within the next few days – was the safest option.

NASA protected the astronaut's privacy, declining to identify which of the four crew members was affected or specify the condition's nature. Officials said the astronaut's condition was stable, requiring no emergency deorbit, and was unrelated to International Space Station operations.

Crew-11 consists of NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Michael Fincke, JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. Cardman and Fincke were due to perform the spacewalk.

"This is not an injury ...