ISS astronauts return to Earth in Nasa's first ever medical evacuation

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: The Guardian

Four astronauts from the International Space Station have returned to Earth a month earlier than planned after one developed a “serious” medical condition onboard the orbiting outpost.

Nasa confirmed the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying the US astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, the Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Oleg Platonov, a Russian cosmonaut, splashed down at 8.41am UK time off the coast of San Diego.

The space agency has not identified the sick crew member for privacy reasons but said they were in a stable condition. It is the first time Nasa has cut short a mission to the ISS owing to a health problem.
...
Soon after splashdown, teams on the recovery ship, and two fast boats, worked to secure the SpaceX Dragon and hoist it on to the deck so the crew could be brought onboard. Nasa plans to take all four to a nearby hospital for checks.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jan/15/first-medical-evacuation-nasa-astronauts-back-to-earth

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(that's about 3 hours before I posted this)

[wolfie001]

1. Ironically, that SA nazi ex-pat made damn sure many Americans lost their access to health care

Bastard.

[JohnnyRingo]

2. Somehow I feel there's more to this than what they're telling.

I wonder if there was the kind of problem that arises when people spend time together in a small enclosed space. There have been reports in the past of conflicts and personality issues. Whether it's a medical problem or otherwise, we'll find out eventually.

[JI7]

3. But usually they seem to be ok. They go through a lot of training for this and test them to see how they are in certain

conditions. I know it's not going to be the real thing until they get there but I think those who have done this have been able to deal with it.

[maxsolomon]

4. I'd like to know who and what.

If they're not saying, I'll assume the "privacy reasons" are super embarrassing - like they need Hemorrhoid surgery, or they got a MRSA from liposuction.

[hunter]

5. Why are we still sending people into space? It makes no sense.

"...there may be a case for having trained physicians on future missions to Mars, when the human body is more likely to break down than the technology supporting it..."

No shit! There's nothing on Mars for humans but misery and death.

I doubt natural born humans will ever have a significant presence in space. We'll probably send a few more people to the moon and hopefully return them safely and that will be that.

The first humanoid creatures on Mars, literally created by humans especially for this harsh environment, will probably look something like this:

I'd be more inspired by that than watching fragile humans get sick and die a hundred million miles away from home.

[Polybius]

6. I'm sure things that "makes no sense" makes perfect sense to NASA and SpaceX

I don't think robots are at the level yet where we wouldn't need humans to do it. As for Mars, it's really tough to predict what will happen in 50 years, let alone 300 or 1,000. The goal is to terraform it.