WASHINGTON: A “serious medical condition” with a crew member aboard the International Space Station has led Nasa to bring the astronaut and three crewmates back to Earth months earlier than planned, the first such emergency return in the orbiting laboratory’s 25-year history, senior space agency officials said.
Nasa Administrator Jared Isaacman told reporters on Thursday in a short-notice press conference in Washington that he and medical officials made the decision to return the astronaut, whom he did not identify, because “the capability to diagnose and treat this properly does not live on the International Space Station”.
The NASA officials did not identify which of the Crew-11 mission’s four astronauts was experiencing the medical issue or describe its nature, citing the crew member’s privacy.