NASA\u2019s Crew 11 astronauts were about to enter the final month of their mission aboard the International Space Station when a member of their team suddenly fell ill. The January incident prompted NASA\u2019s first-ever medical evacuation from the ISS, and while the agency initially kept the details quiet, the affected crew member is now sharing his story.<\/p>\n
Crew 11 pilot Mike Fincke identified<\/a> himself as the ailing astronaut in February but did not provide specifics about what happened to him. In a recent interview with the Associated Press, he revealed<\/a> that he suddenly lost the ability to speak while eating dinner on January 7.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was completely out of the blue,\u201d Fincke told the AP. \u201cIt was just amazingly quick.\u201d<\/p>\n He had spent the day preparing to conduct a spacewalk\u2014a procedure he had executed<\/a> nine times on previous ISS missions. Fincke said he did not remember feeling any pain, but his crewmates leapt into action when they saw his distress.<\/p>\n A first-of-its-kind emergency <\/p>\n Fincke said he was unable to speak for about 20 minutes. Faced with an unusual emergency, other members of Crew-11\u2014commander Zena Cardman, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov\u2014quickly sought guidance from flight surgeons on the ground.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was all hands on deck within just a matter of seconds,\u201d he told the AP.<\/p>\n The ISS has<\/a> a well-stocked pharmacy and a suite of medical equipment to periodically assess crew health, perform self-diagnoses, and treat certain illnesses and injuries. Fincke said the space station\u2019s ultrasound machine came in handy during the incident, but he did not provide further details about the emergency care he received in orbit.<\/p>\n Ultimately, NASA postponed the space walk<\/a> and decided Fincke needed to return to Earth<\/a> to receive the care he needed. It was the agency\u2019s first medical evacuation order<\/a> in 25 years of ISS operations.<\/p>\n The Crew 11 astronauts splashed down<\/a> off the coast of California on January 15\u201435 days before the scheduled end of their mission. The team\u2019s departure left only three astronauts aboard the ISS<\/a>, which is the minimum required to keep the space station running.<\/p>\n Fincke said he\u2019s gone through numerous tests since returning to Earth, and the AP reports that NASA is combing through other astronauts\u2019 medical records to look for similar incidents. Fincke said he felt fine after the event and never experienced anything like it before or since.<\/p>\n