NASA cancels spacewalk, may end space station crew’s current mission prematurely due to medical issue

A spacewalk planned for Thursday outside the International Space Station was canceled Wednesday evening due to a “medical issue” involving an unidentified crew member, NASA said in a statement.

An update shortly before midnight said the agency was exploring “all options, including the possibility of an earlier end to Crew 11’s mission.”

“These are the situations for which NASA and our partners train and prepare to execute safely,” the update said. “We will provide further updates in the next 24 hours.”

Although NASA did not identify the astronaut in question or explain the medical problem — standard practice due to privacy concerns — the agency said “the case involved a single crew member who is stable.”

Space station commander Mike Fincke, flight engineer Zena Cardman, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov launched to the space station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon ferry in August. 1.

As the new year approaches, the crew is expected to remain in space until their replacements arrive in mid-February. The return of Crew 11 to Earth is scheduled for around February 20. This is still the official plan.

Meanwhile, Cardman, 38, and Fincke, 58, a veteran of nine spacewalks on previous missions, planned to venture outside the station on Thursday to finish construction of a truss needed to support an array of deployed solar panels and to carry out other planned maintenance work.

A second spacewalk by two astronauts, which has not yet been announced, was planned for next week.

But NASA canceled the first spacewalk earlier Wednesday, saying “the agency is monitoring a medical issue regarding a crew member that occurred Wednesday afternoon. Due to medical confidentiality, it is not appropriate for NASA to share further details about the crew member.”

“The situation is stable. NASA will share additional details later, including a new date for the next spacewalk.”

In a brief space-to-ground radio exchange just after 2:30 p.m. EST, Yui called mission control in Houston and requested a private medical conference, or PMC.

Mission Control responded that a PMC, using a private radio channel, would be set up temporarily. Yui then asked if a flight surgeon was available and if the flight controllers had a live camera from inside the station.

“Houston, do we still have, like, a camera view in the node 2, uh, 3 lab?” » asked Yui.

“We don’t have any internal cameras at the moment, but we can integrate the lab view if you want,” the mission control communicator replied.

“I appreciate that,” Yui replied. He then asked: “Do you have a crew doctor?…A flight surgeon?”

No further exchanges were heard. Later Wednesday, the audio feed from NASA’s space station, normally broadcast live 24 hours a day on YouTube, went silent without explanation.