NASA postpones ISS spacewalk, plans first-ever medical evacuation in station’s history
For the first time in 25 years of continuous International Space Station operations, NASA is preparing a medical evacuation after a crew member fell ill. The agency confirmed on January 8, 2026, that the astronaut is in stable condition and will return to Earth aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 members stand inside the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. From left are Mission Specialist Kimiya Yui from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Commander NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, Mission Specialist Oleg Platonov of Roscosmos, and Pilot NASA astronaut Mike Fincke. Credit: NASA
A spacewalk scheduled for Thursday, January 8, 2026, was postponed due to a medical issue affecting one member of the four-person Crew-11 mission, NASA confirmed. The agency stated that the affected astronaut is stable and will soon return to Earth, marking the first medical evacuation in the ISS’s 25-year operational history.
The name of the astronaut and the said medical condition have not been disclosed due to privacy concerns. NASA has assured that the affected crew member is currently stable and will soon be brought back to earth, on an undisclosed date.
Dr. James Polk, NASA’s chief health and medical officer, said that the issue had nothing to do with the spacewalk or preparations for it.
This will be the first medical evacuation in the history of the orbiting lab, which has hosted rotating astronaut crews continuously since November 2000.
“It is not an emergency de-orbit, even though we always retain that capability, and NASA and our partners train for that routinely,” recently confirmed NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told reporters during a press conference on Thursday.
“The capability to diagnose and treat this properly does not live on the International Space Station,” Isaacman added, explaining why he ultimately decided to speed up the departure timeline.
“This is not an operational issue. This was not an injury that occurred in the pursuit of operations,” Polk said. “It’s mostly having a medical issue in the difficult areas of microgravity, and with the suite of hardware that we have at our avail to complete a diagnosis.”
A medical evacuation from the ISS is not exactly surprising. In fact, it’s long overdue: Statistical modeling suggests that there should be one such incident every three years or so, according to Polk.
Crew-11 consists of NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Michael Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui, and Oleg Platonov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
The four launched to the ISS aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule Endeavour on August 1, 2025, and were already nearing the end of their planned six-month mission aboard the orbiting lab at the time of this incident.
Operations aboard the ISS continue normally. The remaining crew members are carrying out maintenance, science experiments, and system checks as mission control finalizes plans for the return.
I am an Assistant Editor and Severe Weather & Science Journalist at The Watchers, specializing in real-time severe weather coverage, geophysical event reporting, and research-driven scientific analysis. You can reach me at rishav(at)watchers(.)news.
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