NASA has postponed a planned Jan. 8 spacewalk outside the International Space Station due to a “medical concern” with an unnamed crew member.<\/p>\n
Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman had been scheduled to step outside the International Space Station <\/a>(ISS) on Thursday at about 8:00 a.m. EST (1300 GMT), kicking off a roughly 6.5-hour extravehicular activity (EVA). But that spacewalk<\/a> has been postponed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “The agency is monitoring a medical concern with a crew member that arose Wednesday afternoon aboard the orbital complex,” NASA officials said in an emailed statement on Wednesday (Jan. 7). “Due to medical privacy, it is not appropriate for NASA to share more details about the crew member. The situation is stable. NASA will share additional details, including a new date for the upcoming spacewalk, later.”<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n When the spacewalk happens, it will be the first for Cardman and the 10th for Fincke, who will tie the record for most EVAs by a NASA astronaut.<\/p>\n Five American astronauts have 10 spacewalks under their belt to date: Bob Behnken, Stephen Bowen, Chris Cassidy, Michael Lopez-Alegria and Peggy Whitson<\/a>. The world record is 16, held by cosmonaut Anatoly Solevyev.<\/p>\n The Jan. 8 spacewalk was designed to help prepare one of the ISS’ power channels for the future installation of a new International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array, or iROSA<\/a> for short.<\/p>\n