NASA announced a single crew member suffered a medical situation Wednesday on board the International Space Station that forced the postponement of a planned spacewalk. It has since said the crew member is stable, but that the Crew-11 mission may need to leave earlier than planned.
“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,” NASA posted on its website. “These are the situations NASA and our partners train for and prepare to execute safely. We will provide further updates within the next 24 hours.”
The postponement was originally announced stating NASA was monitoring a medical concern that arose Wednesday afternoon.
“Due to medical privacy, it is not appropriate for NASA to share more details about the crew member,” NASA had stated.
The four members of Crew-11 arrive to Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, July 26, 2025 ahead of their planned launch this week to the International Space Station. From left to right are NASA astronaut and commander Zena Cardman, NASA astronaut and pilot Michael Fincke, JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov along with his translator. (Richard Tribou/Orlando Sentinel)
The spacewalk was to have involved veteran NASA astronaut and space station commander Mike Fincke along with NASA’s Zena Cardman, a flight engineer, both members of Crew-11, which launched from Kennedy Space Center on Aug. 1 last year.
The other two members of Crew-11 are JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.
The quartet were not slated to return to Earth until the arrival of Crew-12, which NASA had slated for no earlier than Feb. 15, although NASA has sent crews home earlier before the arrival of their relief in the past.
The space station has three other members on board including NASA’s Chris Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikaev, who flew to the station on a Soyuz spacecraft in November.
Fincke is amidst his fourth trip to space. His previous missions included the last flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour in 2011. Cardman is making her first trip to space.