Four crewmembers depart the International Space Station early due to a medical issue, marking the lab’s first medical evacuation
WASHINGTON: Four crewmembers departed the International Space Station after a medical issue prompted their mission to be cut short by a month.
This marks the first-ever medical evacuation from the orbiting laboratory.
A video feed from NASA showed American astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov and Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui undocking from the ISS.
The quartet had been in space for five months.
The US space agency has declined to disclose which crewmember has the health problem or give details about the issue.
It has stressed the return is not an emergency situation.
The affected crewmember “was and continues to be in stable condition,” NASA official Rob Navias said.
The SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying the four crewmembers is scheduled to splash down off the California coast.
“First and foremost, we are all OK. Everyone on board is stable, safe, and well cared for,” Fincke, the pilot of SpaceX Crew-11, said in a social media post.
“This was a deliberate decision to allow the right medical evaluations to happen on the ground, where the full range of diagnostic capability exists.”
James Polk, NASA’s chief health and medical officer, said “lingering risk” and a “lingering question as to what that diagnosis is” led to the early return decision.
The Crew-11 quartet arrived at the ISS in early August and had been scheduled to stay until mid-February.
American astronaut Chris Williams and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev are remaining on the ISS.
The Russian Roscosmos space agency operates alongside NASA on the outpost.
The two agencies take turns transporting a citizen of the other country to and from the orbiter.
This is one of the few areas of bilateral cooperation that still endure between the United States and Russia.
The four astronauts being evacuated had been trained to handle unexpected medical situations.
A senior NASA official praised how they have dealt with the situation.
The ISS is set to be decommissioned after 2030.
Its orbit will be gradually lowered until it breaks up in the atmosphere over a remote part of the Pacific Ocean.
