Why Did NASA Just Evacuate the International Space Station?
On January 15th, ISS crew number 74 splashed down off the coast of California. The landing went according to plan, except for the fact that the astronauts weren’t due home for another month. But for the first time in history, NASA was forced to evacuate the ISS for a medical emergency.
At first, NASA didn’t reveal which of the crew members prompted the early trip home. Expedition 74 included three NASA astronauts, three Russian cosmonauts, and a single Japanese astronaut. Today, commander Mike Fincke (58) finally made a statement.
“On Jan. 7, while aboard the International Space Station, I experienced a medical event that required immediate attention from my incredible crewmates.” He says he was “quickly stabilized.” The early return was “not an emergency.” It was “a carefully coordinated plan to be able to take advantage of advanced medical imaging not available on the space station.”
He insisted, “I’m doing very well and continuing standard post-flight reconditioning at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.”
Depending on his exact health condition, Fincke may have lucked out: he was scheduled for a spacewalk on January 8th. Expedition 74 officially took over the space station on December 9th. Fincke handed over command to Cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov on January 12th and departed with most of the crew on the 14th. A full replacement crew arrived on the ISS on February 14th.
Fincke humbly said, “Spaceflight is an incredible privilege, and sometimes it reminds us just how human we are.” It’s good to know that while astronauts are serving the U.S. and the entire human race by manning the ISS, they aren’t out of reach of help if they need it.
