A “serious \u2060medical condition” with a crew member on board the International Space Station has led NASA to bring the astronaut and three crewmates back to Earth months earlier than planned, the first such emergency return in the orbiting laboratory’s 25-year history, senior \u200dspace agency officials said.<\/p>\n
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told reporters in a short-notice press conference in Washington that he and medical officials made the decision to return the astronaut, whom he did not identify, because “the capability to diagnose and treat this properly does not live on the International Space Station”.<\/p>\n
The NASA officials did not identify which of the Crew-11 mission’s four astronauts was experiencing the medical issue or describe its nature, citing the crew member’s privacy.<\/p>\n
NASA Chief Health and Medical Officer James Polk said “this was not an injury that occurred in the pursuit of operations,” meaning it did not happen while the astronaut was \u2060working.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday afternoon NASA called off a planned spacewalk with two US astronauts that had been scheduled for yesterday over what it described \u2060as a “medical concern” with an astronaut, later saying in a midnight statement that it was considering ending the astronaut’s rotation mission early.<\/p>\n
LIVE: NASA leadership discusses the @Space_Station<\/a> and its crew. https:\/\/t.co\/AHADoGBR8h<\/a><\/p>\n