NASA announced on January 8 that it will return its SpaceX Crew-11 mission to evacuate a crew member from the ISS after he suffered a medical concern on January 7.
NASA shared early on January 8 that it was postponing its spacewalk to conduct station upgrades due to a medical concern with one of the astronauts onboard.
The identity of the astronaut was not shared with the public due to NASA’s policy to keep the medical privacy of its astronauts. NASA’s chief health and medical officer, Dr. James Polk, stated that it had nothing to do with the spacewalk activities nor with the regular operations of the station.
NASA reiterated that this is not an emergency evacuation and is not rushing the return of Crew-11. No date for Crew-11’s early return has been given yet.
The crew of SpaceX’s Crew-11 consists of NASA astronauts Zena Cardman (commander) and Michael Fincke (pilot), JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. This was Cardman and Platonov’s first spaceflight, Yui’s second, and Fincke’s, the veteran’s fourth spaceflight.
Dr. Polk would not share any specifics as to what happened or any information that could allude to a diagnosis, but said that the astronaut will be in regular contact with flight doctors and they will make any necessary decisions regarding the changing of daily activities.
However, Dr. Polk did mention that “the crew came to the aid of their colleague right away,” meaning something obviously took place that was out of the normal course of day-to-day operations.
With the return of Crew-11 happening sooner than planned, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman shared that they are working on moving up the launch of Crew-12 if possible. Between then and the return of Crew-11, the ISS will continue to operate with NASA astronaut Christopher Williams, who flew to space on Russia’s Soyuz MS-28.
Artemis 2 is also in the early stages of launch preparations, meaning NASA will be working towards two major launches in the coming months. Isaacman shared he has no concerns over working towards both goals; they are completely separate, and Artemis 2 should not see any delays due to the potential accelerated launch of Crew-12.
Crew-12’s launch
That accelerated launch won’t be too big of a deal; Crew-12 was already slated to fly on February 12. So there is a possibility NASA decides not to move up the launch and instead keeps the original plan to fly at its current launch date.
Crew-12 will fly on a yet-to-be-announced SpaceX Dragon, and its crew will consist of NASA astronauts Jessica Meir (commander) and Jack Hathaway (pilot), ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.
While most missions to the ISS last for six months, Crew-12 could be the first to fly for as long as eight months due to cost reductions imposed by President Trump. Russia has also introduced similar extended missions to reduce costs as both agencies begin to plan for the ISS’s retirement at the end of the decade.
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