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Medical Evacuation from Space Station Next Week for Astronaut in Stable Condition (space.com) 43

Posted by EditorDavid from the safety-first dept.
It will be the first medical evacuation from the International space station in its 25-year history. The Guardian reports: An astronaut in the orbital laboratory reportedly fell ill with a "serious" but undisclosed issue. Nasa also had to cancel its first spacewalk of the year... The agency did not identify the astronaut or the medical problem, citing patient privacy. "Because the astronaut is absolutely stable, this is not an emergent evacuation," [chief health and medical officer Dr. James] Polk said. "We're not immediately disembarking and getting the astronaut down, but it leaves that lingering risk and lingering question as to what that diagnosis is, and that means there is some lingering risk for that astronaut onboard."
"SpaceX says it's Dragon spacecraft at the International Space Station is ready to return its four Crew-11 astronauts home in an unprecedented medical evacuation on Jan. 14 and 15," reports Space.com: The SpaceX statement came on the heels of NASA's announcement that the Crew-11 astronauts were scheduled to undock from the space station on Jan. 14 and splashdown off the coast of California early on Jan. 15. The Crew-11 Dragon spacecraft will return NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke to Earth alongside Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platanov... NASA officials opted for a "controlled medical evacuation" in order to provide the astronaut better treatment on the ground, NASA chief Jared Isaacman has said...

Dr. James Polk, NASA's chief medical officer, has said the medical issue is not an injury to the astronaut afflicted, but rather something related to the prolonged exposure to weighlessness by astronauts living and working on the International Space Station. "It's mostly having a medical issue in the difficult areas of microgravity and the suite of hardware that we operate in," Polk said.
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Medical Evacuation from Space Station Next Week for Astronaut in Stable Condition More

Medical Evacuation from Space Station Next Week for Astronaut in Stable Condition

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  • OK (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Who got pregnant this time?

  • The idea that the public is not entitled to know what's wrong with the leonaut is absurd.

    • Re: ridiculous (Score:4, Insightful)

      by liqu1d ( 4349325 ) on Saturday January 10, 2026 @01:30PM (#65914928)
      No it isn't, not even remotely. It's private information regardless of your job. All we need to know is if they're bringing back some alien virus that will decimate earth but that's not due until February with the way this year is going.

      • What about presidents and presidential candidates essentially being forced into releasing their medical records? Seems like working for the government in a high-risk, high-stakes and expensive role might be somewhat different.

      • And where would that alien virus come from? /FACEPLAM

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by pz ( 113803 )

        No it isn't, not even remotely. It's private information regardless of your job.

        The thing is, astronauts undergo pretty serious medical evaluation prior to being sent up. Their medical condition is in no way private from NASA (or whichever agency is sending them up). I have a close friend who made it to the final round before being disqualified because of an incredibly rare condition that is thought to be completely benign on the ground. But because NASA did not have any experience with it in space, they did not want to end up with a disabled astronaut who might jeopardize the missi

        • Sorry I was a bit absolutist there. I would fully expect NASA to have the full information I wouldn't expect the public to have it. I'm very sorry to hear of your friend I can imagine how heartbreaking it would be to lose that opportunity.

          • Re: ridiculous (Score:4, Interesting)

            by pz ( 113803 ) on Saturday January 10, 2026 @05:12PM (#65915264) Journal

            Thanks for the civility.

            Interestingly, she was not heartbroken. Disappointed, yes. Astronauts (at least the ones I've met) and those who get close are incredibly resilient people. She ended up working in a company that builds experiments that fly on the ISS, on contract for the scientists who want to run them. Part of her job was astronaut liaison.

            NASA's medical examination is far, far more involved than anything a civilian will ever experience. They examine every part of your body, as intensively as technology will allow. They found her anomalous condition in a part of the head that is not normally of concern or even examined. The wild thing is that they recognized her condition, despite it being very rare. The people at NASA often take a lot of grief on Slashdot, but to a person, I've never met a more impressive set of people, and I'm fortunate enough to work at a top-tier university.

            • Thanking me for civility is rather damning of slashdot isn't it... Im glad to hear they weren't heartbroken and have found interesting work. I have nothing but admiration for entities like NASA. I'm sure there's some negative aspects to them but the overwhelming majority is to pursing a great goals and dragging us forward as a species.

    • Let’s publish your medical records then.

      • I caught scarlet fever from my kid last year and had a crazy rash in my ass that required prescription steroids to get rid of a couple years back. Oh, and I seem to recall having an enflamed penis when I was a kid that I had to soak in antibiotics for a week or so.

        The medical privacy is not just for my benefit. It's for yours, so you don't have to picture all the disgusting bits of the human condition when you're talking about manned spaceflight, when you ask your officemate how their weekend was, or trolli

        • Re: ridiculous (Score:4, Funny)

          by Valgrus Thunderaxe ( 8769977 ) on Saturday January 10, 2026 @03:44PM (#65915150)
          I had poison ivy on my penis. It was gnarly and I showed everyone. I was a hero that summer.

  • "... something related to the prolonged exposure to weighlessness by astronauts living and working on the International Space Station. "

    I'm saying she's pregnant.

  • Looks like the freelance author based in Brooklyn for The Guardian made a typo. It should read NASA not Nasa with only the first letter in capital letter. The sad part about it is that publication should have a editor that should of noticed that. Mistakes happen but this shows all of you that say "old news" because it comes out a few hours (or some types of stories days) later. It get they may have a different style guide being the the U.K. publication; but when you call it a "US" edition of the website by

    • Hey at least he can read and write. That's asking a lot for some people.

      • Speaking of reading, I recall a recent summary on here that literacy rates are on the decline. Part of that I think is due to the essay style write style that is still taught in schools. Not much latitude on what you can do otherwise on trying to learn to read and write for lots of schools (Especially K-12 though even seems to be up-to 'K-16' a.k.a bachelors as of this moment today). Takes someone promoting audio-books and books (do both at once if your really want to focus on the books your most into) or o

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      This has been a point of difference in publishing styles of the UK and US for many years.

      RE: Nasa vs NASA
      Reply #10 on: 03/29/2006 03:17 pm
      I sent an email to the BBC and this is the response:

      The BBC's policy is to write acronyms in lower case letters - hence
      Nasa, Nato etc. Acronyms which cannot be pronounced as words (or
      initialisms are they're sometimes called) - CIA, FBI, RAF etc - are
      spelled with capitals. It may not be something that everyone agrees
      with, but at least someone here has put some thought into coming up with
      a decision. In fact in the UK, other respected media such as the Times
      and Telegraph newspapers follow the same format.

      Best wishes,

      Ian Jolly
      NewsWatch

    • Wrong. Do you spell it out every time you say it? En Eh Ess Eh? No. You say 'Nasa'. It's an acronym. Like Unesco. And no full stops. Keep those for the end of the sentence.
      • I'm sorry your having issues from New Zealand where you say "A point you might not realise is that te reo Maori (the Maori language) is an official language of Aotearoa/New Zealand. English is not." Looks like you maybe understand English by the post history but do not realize (not realise over here) the differences in the U.S.A. https://slashdot.org/comments.... [slashdot.org]

        First off I was writing about the how the written word is stylized in the U.S.A. (yes it it lots of instances can be used either way USA or U.
        • I write in English because this is an international forum. And, because it's an international forum, contributors from the US should be aware that people in other parts of the world find the American desire to adhere to outdated conventions to be at the very least quaint. Or to put it another way - god, you Americans are so insular.

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