Space station evacuated as NASA astronaut suffers 'serious condition'

Four NASA astronauts are beginning their early return from the International Space Station after a crew member suffered a "serious medical condition"

Four astronauts are being evacuated from the International Space Station after a crew member suffered a "serious medical condition".

Footage showed four members of Crew-11 take their positions inside the Dragon Endeavour spacecraft before the hatch to the space station was closed. "The four members of @NASA's #Crew11 are inside the @SpaceX Dragon and have closed the hatch at 3:29pm ET (8.29pm UK time) today prepping to undock at 5:20pm ET," read a post on X from the International Space Station.

In the rare move, NASA is cutting a mission aboard the International Space Station short after an astronaut had a medical issue. The space agency said that the US-Japanese-Russian members of Crew-11 will return to Earth would return home earlier than planned due to the incident.

NASA was forced to cancel its first spacewalk of the year because of the health issue with the space agency not identifying the astronaut or the medical issue, citing patient privacy although the crew member has been confirmed as stable.

The crew of four returning home arrived at the orbiting lab via SpaceX in August for a stay of at least six months. They are NASA’s Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke along with Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. Their spacecraft is due to splashdown on Earth at 8.41am UK time.

The ISS has limited medical supplies available to astronauts with around 200 drugs as well as medical equipment including an ultra-sound machine, defibrillator and an intravenous therapy kit.

This is the first time that an evacuation has been necessary of the space station in 25 years due to a health issue with astronauts going through a thorough medical check before they go into space. There have been more than 280 astronauts on the space station since the first crew arrived in 2000.

Fincke and Cardman were supposed to carry out a spacewalk to make preparations for a future rollout of solar panels to provide additional power for the space station. It was Fincke’s fourth visit to the space station and Yui’s second time, according to NASA. This was the first spaceflight for Cardman and Platonov.

“I’m proud of the swift effort across the agency thus far to ensure the safety of our astronauts,” NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said.

Three other astronauts are currently living and working aboard the space station including NASA’s Chris Williams and Russia’s Sergei Mikaev and Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, who launched in November aboard a Soyuz rocket for an eight-month stay. They’re due to return home in the summer.