Four members of Crew-11 are preparing to return to Earth from the International Space Station later this week after a "medical concern" prompted NASA to cancel a scheduled spacewalk.

Houston

NASA has opted to bring the four-member Crew 11 back to Earth earlier than planned after a medical issue was identified with one of the astronauts. The specific crew member and nature of the issue have not been disclosed, but officials report the condition is stable. Dr. Scott Parazynski, a former astronaut, noted that this is the first time in 25 years a medical situation has required an early ISS mission termination, despite models predicting such events more frequently.

Dr. Parazynski explained that all crew members must return together due to transportation limitations and supported NASA's conservative decision. The early return will result in some scientific experiments being left incomplete, but NASA has contingency plans for such scenarios and will resume full operations with the arrival of the next crew.

Former astronaut applauds NASA for bringing ISS crew home early

So, Sergei, do you accept command of the International Space Station? Yes, I accept command of International Space Station. That was on board the International Space Station today, where an official change of command ceremony took place as four members of Crew 11 prepare to return to Earth later this week. The group of four, which consists of two Americans, a Japanese astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut, arrived at the ISS in August. The crew is supposed to return to Earth next month. But last Wednesday, NASA canceled a spacewalk scheduled for Thursday, citing a medical concern with one of the crew members. NASA then said the full crew would cut its mission short and return early as a precaution. Officials have not disclosed the crew member in question or what is wrong, but have said the person's condition was stable. Joining us right now is Dr. Scott Parazynski, a former NASA astronaut who spent time on the International Space Station. Scott has flown five space shuttle missions and conducted seven spacewalks. He's also the CEO of Onward Air. Scott, it's always a pleasure and an honor to get to speak with you. As someone who's trained in the medical profession, spent time on the ISS, what was your reaction when you heard this? And is it surprising given how much evaluation is done on the front end? Well, it's a great question, Lindsay, and great to be with you, by the way. Actually, I'm surprised that it's taken this long for a medical circumstance to require the early termination of a mission. When we started to think about construction of the International Space Station and having a permanent presence there, the models suggested that we would have some form of a medical condition requiring an early return, perhaps once every three years. We've gone 25 years and this is the first time it's ever happened. And it's just a precautionary measure because we have a limited amount of diagnostic capability on board the ISS. So it sounds like NASA is doing the right conservative thing by bringing this crew home. Why is it one goes, we all go? Well, it's a great question, but we have a limited number of transport vehicles. This crew came up on the SpaceX Dragon. And so you really can't leave the other three crew members alone up on the ISS without a ride home. So they travel as a pack, so to speak. And what will happen is that the next crew in sequence will come up as quickly as possible. The current ISS crew with the new Russian commander will tend the shop, but it will be a little less science getting done, more in a caretaker role until they can get the full complement of crew members up there. What does this mean for the research and the mission aboard the ISS? Does that change with the crew switchover? Yes, it does. So a number of the experiments that this current crew is probably wrapping up won't get a chance to be fully completed. Some of them may carry over with this new crew coming up. Typically, a new increment also means a new slate of experiments. So they'll probably be very busy with the payloads that they've been assigned and have trained for, in some cases, a couple of years to manage for the next crew. So some things may drop off from a science perspective, but NASA plans for this. OK, well, Dr. Scott Parazynski, like I said, we always love having you. Thank you for your expertise and time. Thank you so much.

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Breakdown