NASA has decided that Crew-11 will return home early from their International Space Station (ISS) mission. This decision comes in response to a grave medical concern impacting one of the crew members. At that time, a four-person crew launched a SpaceX Crew Dragon to the ISS in August of last year. This crew features NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Kimiya Yui of Japan’s JAXA space agency, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.
Crew-11 was originally due to spend around six months in orbit, with a return planned for next month. Because of a recent medical situation, NASA has had to rush their return. A crew of four U.S. astronauts had taken over from Crew-11 just a few days before this announcement was made.
NASA officials highlighted the role that astronaut health played in their deliberative process.
“We always err on the side of the astronaut’s health,” – NASA official.
Crew-11’s slightly earlier return will push back many of the experiments and maintenance jobs. These enhancements were to occur during the then remaining short time they had left on the station. A spacewalk, scheduled for Thursday, was canceled as a precautionary measure because of the medical situation.
Alongside two Russian cosmonauts, an American astronaut is now riding the floating lab known as the ISS. Only by combining their work is the station able to function at such a high level. Dr. Simeon Barber, a space operations expert, highlighted the necessity of maintaining a sufficient crew level for optimal station functionality.
“The space station is a big, complex feat of engineering, it’s designed to be operated by a certain minimum level of crew,” – Dr. Simeon Barber.
While the cause of this medical issue is being further investigated, NASA remains focused on the safety and health of our astronauts. Simultaneously, they continue to excel at advancing their mission goals on-station aboard the ISS.