NASA's First-Ever Medical Evacuation From Space-Check Latest Updates Here

(MENAFN- Live Mint) An astronaut requiring medical treatment left the International Space Station on Wednesday, accompanied by three fellow crew members, marking NASA's first-ever medical evacuation from the ISS, as reported by AP.

The four returning astronauts - from the U.S., Russia and Japan - are aiming for an early Thursday morning splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego with SpaceX, according to the report.

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The decision cuts short their mission by over a month.

Officials refused to identify the astronaut who needed care last week and would not divulge the health concerns.

AP reported that the ailing astronaut is“stable, safe and well cared for,” outgoing space station commander Mike Fincke said earlier this week via social media.“This was a deliberate decision to allow the right medical evaluations to happen on the ground, where the full range of diagnostic capability exists."

Launched in August, Cardman, Fincke, Japan's Kimiya Yui, and Russia's Oleg Platonov were originally scheduled to stay aboard the space station until late February.

What happened?

However, on Jan. 7, NASA suddenly called off a planned spacewalk by Cardman and Fincke and later announced that the crew would return sooner than expected. Officials noted that the medical issue had nothing to do with the spacewalk or other station activities and declined to provide specifics due to medical privacy, adding that the situation was not an emergency, AP reported.

NASA said it would stick to the same entry and splashdown procedures at flight's end, with the usual assortment of medical experts aboard the recovery ship in the Pacific. It was another middle-of-the-night crew return for SpaceX, coming less than 11 hours after undocking from the space station.

NASA said it was not yet known how quickly all four would be flown from California to Houston, home to Johnson Space Center and the base for astronauts.

One U.S. and two Russian astronauts remain aboard the orbiting lab, just 1 1/2 months into an eight-month mission that began with a Soyuz rocket liftoff from Kazakhstan. NASA and SpaceX are working to move up the launch of a fresh four-person crew from Florida, currently targeted for mid-February, AP reported.

Computer modeling predicted a medical evacuation from the space station every three years, but NASA hasn't had one in its 65 years of human spaceflight.

The Russians have not been as fortunate. In 1985, Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Vasyutin came down with a serious infection or related illness aboard his country's Salyut 7 space station, prompting an early return.

A few other Soviet cosmonauts encountered less serious health issues that shortened their flights.

It was the first spaceflight for Cardman, a 38, biologist and polar explorer who missed out on spacewalking, as well as Platonov, 39, a former fighter pilot with the Russian Air Force who had to wait a few extra years to get to space because of an undisclosed health issue.

Cardman should have launched last year but was bumped to make room on the way down for NASA's Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who were stuck nearly a year at the space station because of Boeing's capsule problems.

Fincke, 58, a retired Air Force colonel, and Yui, 55, a retired fighter pilot with the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, were repeat space fliers. Finke has spent 1 1/2 years in orbit over four missions and conducted nine spacewalks on previous flights, making him one of NASA's top performers. Last week, Yui celebrated his 300th day in space over two station stays, sharing stunning views of Earth, including Japan's Mount Fuji and breathtaking auroras.

“I want to burn it firmly into my eyes, and even more so, into my heart,” Yui said on the social platform X.“Soon, I too will become one of those small lights on the ground.”

NASA officials had said it was riskier to leave the astronaut in space without proper medical attention for another month than to temporarily reduce the size of the space station crew by more than half.

Until SpaceX delivers another crew, NASA said it will have to stand down from any routine or even emergency spacewalks, a two-person job requiring backup help from crew inside the orbiting complex.

(With inputs from AP)

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