{"id":302354,"date":"2026-02-26T02:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T02:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/302354\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T02:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T02:02:09","slug":"new-details-revealed-on-nasas-first-medical-evacuation-sciencealert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/302354\/","title":{"rendered":"New Details Revealed on NASA’s First Medical Evacuation : ScienceAlert"},"content":{"rendered":"

AP \u2013 NASA’s Mike Fincke identified himself Wednesday as the astronaut whose medical condition prompted the space agency’s first medical evacuation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a written statement, the 58-year-old spaceflight veteran revealed he was the ailing crew member<\/a> last month aboard the International Space Station<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He did not say what was wrong with him, but explained that his condition quickly stabilized thanks to his crewmates and flight surgeons on the ground.<\/p>\n

Fincke said he’s doing well now.<\/p>\n

“Spaceflight is an incredible privilege, and sometimes it reminds us just how human we are,” he said in the statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fincke launched with three others on a SpaceX flight last summer.<\/p>\n

Their mission came to an early end on Jan. 15, a week after he experienced what he called a “medical event that required immediate attention” by his fellow astronauts.<\/p>\n

\"NASA'sSupport teams onboard the SpaceX recovery ship SHANNON. (NASA via AP)<\/p>\n

The health concern also forced the cancellation of a planned spacewalk by Fincke and another NASA astronaut.<\/p>\n

Following their splashdown in the Pacific, all four astronauts were taken to a San Diego hospital. They flew home to Houston the next day.<\/p>\n

With the sick astronaut’s identity still a secret, Fincke said at a news conference a week after returning that the space station’s ultrasound machine came in handy during the medical crisis.<\/p>\n

\"Subscribe<\/a><\/p>\n

He elaborated Wednesday, stressing that his situation was not an emergency but that everyone wanted “to take advantage of advanced medical imaging not available on the space station.”<\/p>\n

Related: NASA Evacuating ISS Crew After Unprecedented Medical Situation<\/a><\/p>\n

Fincke, a retired Air Force colonel who became an astronaut in 1996, has logged 549 days in space over four missions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AP \u2013 NASA’s Mike Fincke identified himself Wednesday as the astronaut whose medical condition prompted the space agency’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":["post-302354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}