WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Four-member crew aboard the International Space Station are set to return to earth more than a month earlier than planned after one of them experienced a 'serious medical condition.'
This was disclosed by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman at a news conference the NASA headquarters in Washington on Thursday, accompanied by other officials of the U.S. space agency.
They neither revealed what was the medical issue, nor the identity of the astronaut due to privacy concerns.
The agency typically refrains from discussing the specifics of health-related matters involving astronauts.
In an update regarding the medical situation aboard the International Space Station, NASA said the matter involved a single crew member who is stable. 'Safely conducting our missions is our highest priority, and we are actively evaluating all options, including the possibility of an earlier end to Crew-11's mission,' it said in a press release.
The affected crew member is currently working aboard the orbital laboratory, NASA added.
Earlier" the agency announced it was postponing a planned spacewalk originally scheduled for Thursday.
This is the first time in the 25 year long history of the International Space Station and NASA's more than 65 year history that its crew being forced to evacuate early due to medical reasons, the agency's chief health and medical officer Dr James Polk told reporters.
'We have a very robust suite of medical hardware on board the International Space Station. But we don't have the complete amount of hardware that I would have in the emergency department, for example, to complete a workup of a patient,' Polk said.
'And in this particular incident, we would like to complete that work up, and the best way to complete that workup is on the ground,' he added.
American astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Japan's Kimiya Yui, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov are the SpaceX Crew-11 members.
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