NASA mentioned on Wednesday it was suspending a spacewalk that was scheduled for Thursday, citing a “medical concern” with one of many crew members.
The house company didn’t present further details about the difficulty or title the astronaut concerned.
“Due to medical privacy, it is not appropriate for NASA to share more details about the crew member,” the house company mentioned in a statement. “The situation is stable. NASA will share additional details, including a new date for the upcoming spacewalk, later.”
Two NASA astronauts — Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman — had been slated to exit an airlock aboard the International Space Station on Thursday to end getting ready an influence channel the place a brand new photo voltaic array is about to be put in.
The spacewalk can be a primary for Cardman, a 38-year-old geobiologist who was chosen for the astronaut corps in 2017.
Fincke, who has been an astronaut since 1996, has participated in 9 prior spacewalks. Venturing outdoors the house station once more would make him the sixth American astronaut to conduct 10 spacewalks, mentioned Bill Spetch, NASA’s operations integration supervisor for the orbiting laboratory, throughout a Wednesday information briefing.
NASA doesn’t sometimes share particulars about medical points that have an effect on astronauts. Information in regards to the impression of spaceflight on the human physique or different medical considerations that happen throughout missions are typically made public as a part of broader scientific research and analysis, and particular astronauts are normally not recognized.
Conditions corresponding to space adaptation syndrome — an ailment characterised by vomiting and vertigo that’s skilled by many astronauts throughout their first hours in microgravity — solely got here into focus after years of analysis and revelations in tutorial journals. The situation is frequent, nonetheless, and has affected astronauts relationship again to the start of spaceflight.
An incident by which an astronaut skilled a case of jugular venous thrombosis, a harmful situation by which a blood clot can kind in an individual’s jugular vein, was additionally revealed in an academic journal. The identity of the astronaut impacted has by no means been made public.
Additionally, after SpaceX’s Crew-8 mission returned from the house station in October 2024, one of many 4 crew members skilled a “medical issue” and was flown to a hospital in Florida.
The house company didn’t present additional particulars on the time, saying in a press release solely that the crew member was “in stable condition” and “under observation as a precautionary measure.” The id of the crew member remains to be unknown.
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