Nasa is considering an early return of some crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS) after it cancelled its first spacewalk of the year, which was scheduled for Thursday
Nasa has cancelled its first spacewalk of the year after a medical issue onboard the International Space Station (ISS).
The spacewalk was supposed to happen on Thursday, but was postponed because of an unspecified medical concern with an unnamed astronaut. The space agency said it also may bring its crew back early from the ISS due to an onboard medical issue.
The crew member is now stable, but the space agency said it is “actively evaluating all options”, including an early end to the mission.
Spokesperson Cheryl Warner in a statement: “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.
“The agency is monitoring a medical concern with a crew member that arose Wednesday afternoon aboard the orbital complex. Due to medical privacy, it is not appropriate for Nasa to share more details about the crew member.
“Our top priority is the safe execution of our missions, and we are thoroughly assessing all possibilities, including the option of concluding Crew 11’s mission ahead of schedule.”
On Wednesday, Nasa abruptly cancelled the spacewalk due for Thursday when two astronauts were set to step outside the ISS and announced that it was because one of the crew was unwell.
Nasa is said to be considering whether the astronaut can safely remain in orbit or should come home early with their crewmates.
The four person Crew-11 team have been at the orbiting lab since August after launching from Florida. It consists of Nasa astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui from the JAXA space agency, and a Russian cosmonaut, Oleg Platonov.
They launched to the ISS in August 2025 on a SpaceX Crew Dragon and were expected to remain in orbit for about six months and return around late February 2026, after being replaced by another four person crew a few days earlier.
If Crew 11 leave together, the other crew on board would remain: Nasa astronaut Chris Williams and two Russian cosmonauts, Sergey Kud Sverchkov and Sergei Mikayev.
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore made headlines in June 2024 when they took off to the ISS aboard a Boeing capsule, which malfunctioned before docking with the space station.
The Boeing craft returned to Earth without the crew, leaving them in space until March 18, 2025. Nasa dismissed calls to bring them home early as there were no medical issues so the crew could stay until the next rotation.
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