{"id":500581,"date":"2026-01-08T05:05:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T05:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/500581\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T05:05:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T05:05:12","slug":"nasa-postpones-first-spacewalk-of-2026-due-to-a-medical-concern-with-an-iss-crew-member-spaceflight-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/500581\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA postpones first spacewalk of 2026 due to a \u2018medical concern\u2019 with an ISS crew member \u2013 Spaceflight Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"At center, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut and Expedition 74 Flight Engineer Kimiya Yui assists NASA astronauts Zena Cardman (left) and Mike Fincke (right), the station\u2019s flight engineer and commander respectively, during spacesuit checks inside the International Space Station\u2019s Quest airlock. Image: NASA<\/p>\n

Update Jan. 7, 9:30 p.m. EST (0230 UTC): Added information about the ISS livestreams being taken offline.<\/strong><\/p>\n

NASA announced Wednesday it was postponing the first spacewalk of 2026 from the International Space Station for unspecified medical reasons. Two NASA astronauts had been scheduled to venture outside the station on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe agency is monitoring a medical concern with a crew member that arose Wednesday afternoon aboard the orbital complex,\u201d NASA said in a brief statement on Wednesday. \u201cDue to medical privacy, it is not appropriate for NASA to share more details about the crew member. The situation is stable.\u201d<\/p>\n

NASA said it would share additional details, including a new date for the spacewalk later. Roughly an hour before making its announcement, the agency also took offline its two ISS live feeds, which include air to ground communications audio.<\/p>\n

Astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman were to have spent about 6.5 hours outside the space station on a roughly 6.5 hour extravehicular activity (EVA), designated U.S. spacewalk 94. Fincke was to become just the sixth U.S. astronaut to perform a total of 10 spacewalks.<\/p>\n

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui and NASA astronaut Chris Williams were to help get Fincke and Cardman into their space suits.<\/p>\n

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Kimiya Yui, reflected in the visor of a crewmate\u2019s helmet. @Astro_Kimiya<\/a>, along with @Astro_ChrisW<\/a>, will run the suit-up operations for tomorrow\u2019s spacewalk \u2013 in my opinion, the greatest responsibility on one of the most challenging and rewarding days for astronauts. Kimiya is a\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/MMgPNFixSi<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Zena Cardman (@zenanaut) January 7, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

During a briefing on Tuesday, NASA officials outlined the upcoming work for this and another EVA, U.S. spacewalk 95. For this first outing, Fincke and Cardman were to prepare the station\u2019s 2A power channel for the future installation of the final pair of ISS Roll-Out Solar Arrays (iROSAs), scheduled for launch to the station sometime in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce this mod kit is complete, we have one more to do. So we\u2019ll look at \u2014- we\u2019re looking for a a time, maybe in the spring, but we\u2019re not exactly sure yet where that\u2019s going to fit to finish the last mod kit,\u201d said Bill Spetch, operations integration manager for NASA\u2019s ISS Program. \u201cIt is on orbit, waiting to be installed. We just have to go out there and install it. And then we\u2019ll bring up the two remaining iROSAs together. They fly in a configuration that stacks together in one Dragon trunk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before returning to the Quest airlock, the duo were to swab five locations around the airlock for a study designed to detect the presence of microorganisms.<\/p>\n

\u201cPreviously, we had sampled some other vent locations. They\u2019re looking for locations that are nearby, where we have traffic and atmosphere leaving the ISS and looking in those areas,\u201d Spetch said.<\/p>\n

\"\"NASA astronaut and Expedition 74 Flight Engineer Zena Cardman is pictured in her pressurized spacesuit, checking its communication and power systems ahead of a spacewalk initially planned for Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. At upper right, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut and Flight Engineer Kimiya Yui assists Cardman as she tests the operations of her spacesuit inside the International Space Station\u2019s Quest airlock. Image: NASA<\/p>\n

U.S. spacewalk 95 will see two NASA astronauts (who haven\u2019t been publicly named) replace a high-definition camera near port 3; install a new navigational aid called a planar reflector on the Harmony module\u2019s forward port; and finally, relocate an ammonia service jumper, along with other jumpers, which are flexible hoses that connect parts of a fluid system on the ISS\u2019 S4 and S6 truss.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe jumpers that we\u2019re doing have been \u2018get ahead\u2019 tasks for a long time. They add redundancy to our system so that we can recover activities quicker across our primary power system,\u201d Spetch said. \u201cEach channel is kind of separate in how it operates and these allow us to cross-tie some of the systems within those channels to keep them operating.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn case of failure cases, it\u2019s obviously more desired in a case where, once I get to the point where ISS has been de-crewed for the final deorbit, but it still helps us out today.\u201d<\/p>\n

EVA 95 was scheduled for Jan. 15, a day before NASA aims to have a SpaceX Cargo Dragon spacecraft perform its last scheduled boost of the station, part of work to prepare for the station\u2019s end of life in about five years.<\/p>\n

That Dragon spacecraft, which launch on the CRS-33 mission is slated to undock from the ISS on Jan. 21, followed by the unberthing of Japan\u2019s HTV-X cargo vehicle on Jan. 27 and release on Jan. 28. With the spacewalk delay, it\u2019s now unclear if NASA will have time to perform one or both of the spacewalks before those vehicles need to depart.<\/p>\n

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