{"id":649645,"date":"2026-03-12T05:36:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T05:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/649645\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T05:36:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T05:36:20","slug":"unc-alum-zena-cardman-reflects-on-five-month-iss-mission-wral-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/649645\/","title":{"rendered":"UNC alum Zena Cardman reflects on five-month ISS mission :: WRAL.com"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>NASA astronaut Zena Cardman said there is not a typical day<br \/>\nin space.<\/p>\n<p>The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill graduate concluded<br \/>\na five-month mission at the International Space Station [ISS] after she and the<br \/>\nCrew-11 team safely returned to Earth on Jan. 15, 2026, splashing down in the<br \/>\nPacific Ocean near San Diego.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was, I think, overall, an easier transition than I<br \/>\nexpected it to be, but I miss being on the International Space Station every<br \/>\nday,\u201d Cardman said. \u201cLiving and working in that orbiting laboratory was just a<br \/>\ndream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cardman said ISS duties can vary from mechanical repairs, biological<br \/>\nresearch and research on the human body.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI really miss being part of that incredible, collaborative,<br \/>\ninternational laboratory research and just the fun aspects of being weightless<br \/>\nand floating around all day,\u201d Cardman said.<\/p>\n<p>Cardman and crew members had to cut their mission short due<br \/>\nto an astronaut whose medical condition promoted the space agency\u2019s first medical<br \/>\nevacuation. NASA\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wral.com\/news\/ap\/a02ef-nasas-mike-fincke-identifies-himself-as-the-ailing-astronaut-who-prompted-space-station-evacuation\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mike<br \/>\nFincke identified himself<\/a>\u00a0in February as the astronaut who was affected.<\/p>\n<p>Officials initially refused to identify the astronaut who<br \/>\ndeveloped the health problem last week or explain what happened, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wral.com\/news\/ap\/d8965-ailing-astronaut-returns-to-earth-early-in-nasas-first-medical-evacuation\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">citing<br \/>\nmedical privacy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe most important thing is we were able to prioritize safety<br \/>\nof the crew member while also balancing that with risks to our spacecraft and risks<br \/>\nto the overall mission of the International Space Station,\u201d Cardman said.<\/p>\n<p>Cardman said it took a lot of teamwork to safely land. She<br \/>\nsaid astronauts undergo training for many different outcomes.<\/p>\n<p>WRAL News asked Cardman if she plans to return to outer<br \/>\nspace in the future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI sure hope so,\u201d Cardman said. \u201cI\u2019ll go back as soon as<br \/>\nthey let me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cardman said she must undergo medical evaluation and rehabilitation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s really difficult adjusting back to this 1g environment<br \/>\nhere,\u201d Cardman said of Earth.<\/p>\n<p>Cardman said the ISS has great exercise equipment to<br \/>\nmaintain astronauts\u2019 big muscle groups, using hydraulic resistance. It includes<br \/>\nsquats, bench pressing and deadlifting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s those small stabilizer muscles that we really have a<br \/>\nhard time maintaining while we\u2019re on orbit,\u201d Cardman said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASA astronaut Zena Cardman said there is not a typical day in space. The University of North Carolina&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":649646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[24],"tags":[3057,916,2545,159,783,25211,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-649645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-international-space-station","tag-nasa","tag-outer-space","tag-science","tag-space","tag-unc-chapel-hill","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116214588007396858","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}