{"id":359148,"date":"2026-01-08T15:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T15:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/359148\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T15:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T15:26:09","slug":"nasa-considering-bringing-astronauts-home-early-from-iss-over-medical-issue-science-climate-tech-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/359148\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA considering bringing astronauts home early from ISS over medical issue | Science, Climate & Tech News"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA is considering bringing back a crew from the ISS early because of medical issues.<\/p>\n

Hours before, the space agency cancelled a spacewalk that was scheduled for Thursday.<\/p>\n

A NASA spokeswoman said the astronaut, who wasn’t named for medical privacy reasons, was \u200cin a stable condition on the ISS.<\/p>\n

“Safely conducting \u200bour missions is our highest priority, and we are actively evaluating \u200dall options, including the possibility of an earlier end to Crew-11’s mission,” the spokeswoman said in a statement to Sky News.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Share<\/p>\n

\n What does space do to your body?\n <\/p>\n

Crew-11 has been on the ISS since August last year and was due to return around May this year.<\/p>\n

The station’s designated commander, Mike Fincke, and Zena Cardman, the flight engineer, were supposed to conduct a 6.5-hour spacewalk on Thursday to install hardware outside the station.<\/p>\n

\"Kimiya<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Kimiya Yui assists Zena Cardman (left) and Mike Fincke (right) during spacesuit checks ahead of the planned spacewalk. Pic: NASA<\/p>\n

Spacewalks are dangerous and take a lot of planning. It’s not uncommon for NASA to cancel them if something isn’t quite right.<\/p>\n

More on International Space Station<\/p>\n

In 2024, a spacewalk was cancelled last-minute because an astronaut experienced “spacesuit discomfort”.<\/p>\n

In 2021, astronaut Mark Vande Hei called off his spacewalk over a pinched nerve.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Share<\/p>\n

\n Will contest to replace ISS open up space to everyone?\n <\/p>\n

The four-person Crew-11 crew includes the US astronauts Cardman and Fincke, as well as Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.<\/p>\n

Read more about space:
Inside the lab trying to protect the astronauts of the future<\/a>
Racing to replace the International Space Station<\/a><\/p>\n

Some of the crew had volunteered to take part in experiments to address health challenges astronauts may face on deep space missions, according to NASA – although there is no suggestion this is linked.<\/p>\n

The crew are taking part in simulated moon landings, as well as eye and brain tests, MRI scans and other medical exams.<\/p>\n

\"Mike<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Mike Fincke next to a spacesuit. The helmet is protected to prevent scratches and contamination. Pic: NASA<\/p>\n

There’s been a constant presence on the ISS for over 25 years, with astronauts rotating in and out on missions that can last over a year.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Generally, though, missions last between six and eight months.<\/p>\n

In order to bring a crew home early, the space agency will need to coordinate its replacement.<\/p>\n

NASA told Sky News it will provide further updates within the next 24 hours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASA is considering bringing back a crew from the ISS early because of medical issues. Hours before, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-359148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-science","tag-space","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}