NASA Announces Emergency Evacuation From Space Station

"For the first time ever, NASA has been forced to cut a mission to the International Space Station short due to a "serious medical condition" affecting a crew member. The four Crew-11 astronauts, who arrived at the station in early August, will now be returning a month early on board a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. All four crew members must return together, since they all rely on the same spacecraft for transportation and a place to hide out in case of an emergency."

"There's a lot we still don't know about what occurred. On Thursday, NASA held a news conference to discuss the situation, insisting that the crew member was "stable" and that "due to medical privacy," it wouldn't be "appropriate for NASA to share more details about the crew member." The agency, however, revealed that the unidentified crew member did not sustain an injury and was "totally unrelated" to any space operations, including a Wednesday spacewalk that was unexpectedly cancelled."

""After discussions with our chief health and medical officer, Dr. JD Polk, and leadership across the agency, I've come to the decision that it's in the best interests of our astronauts to return Crew-11 ahead of their planned departure," he said. Polk also insisted that "because the astronaut is absolutely stable, this is not an emergency evacuation." "We're not immediately disembarking and getting the astronaut down," he added."

NASA is cutting the Crew-11 mission on the International Space Station short because a crew member has a serious medical condition that is unrelated to space operations. All four Crew-11 astronauts will return together about a month early aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which also functions as their emergency return vehicle. Officials said the affected crew member is stable and did not sustain an injury. A planned spacewalk was canceled but officials said it was not connected to the medical issue. Newly sworn-in administrator Jared Isaacman and agency medical leadership approved the early return, and a more detailed timeline will be released within 48 hours. Agency medical leadership emphasized that this is not an emergency evacuation and that immediate disembarkation is not underway.

Read at Futurism