NASA Reveals an Astronaut Was Medically Evacuated From the ISS for the First Time After a Non-Emergency Health Scare

NASA has confirmed that astronaut Mike Fincke was the crew member whose health issue led to the first medical evacuation from the International Space Station, a non-emergency incident that nevertheless cut short his mission and brought four astronauts back to Earth weeks early.

The evacuation involved NASA's Crew-11 mission, which launched to the ISS in August 2025 and was originally scheduled to remain in orbit until mid-February 2026. Instead, the crew undocked aboard SpaceX's Dragon capsule Endeavour on January 14 and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on January 15, ending their stay roughly a month ahead of plan.

NASA described the return as the first time in the 25-year history of continuous ISS operations that a mission was shortened for medical reasons, according to Space.

Fincke, a veteran astronaut and pilot of Crew-11, revealed in a recent statement that he "experienced a medical event that required immediate attention" while serving as commander of Expedition 74 on the orbiting outpost.

The issue appeared on Jan. 7, as he and NASA astronaut Zena Cardman prepared for an upcoming spacewalk, prompting NASA to cancel the activity and quietly reassess the crew's situation.

Agency officials have declined to disclose the exact nature of the problem, citing medical privacy, but stressed that the situation was not an emergency and that Fincke remained stable in orbit.

According to NASA's chief health and medical officer, Dr. James Polk, the concern was linked to the challenges of microgravity and was not caused by an operational injury. NASA ultimately decided the astronaut needed "advanced medical imaging not available on the space station," making an early return the safest option, Scientific American reported.

The other members of Crew-11, Cardman, Japan's Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, returned alongside Fincke so the entire crew could come home together on the same spacecraft.

NASA repeatedly emphasized that the evacuation did not involve a life-threatening emergency, but it did represent a significant operational decision. The move highlighted both the limits of current in-orbit medical capability and the agency's practice of erring on the side of caution when a diagnosis is uncertain.

Experts note that serious medical incidents have been rare on the ISS, despite models suggesting that emergencies could occur roughly every few years, thanks to strict astronaut screening and robust support from medical teams on the ground.

Fincke said he is now undergoing evaluation on Earth and expressed gratitude to his crewmates and ground teams for their support. NASA and its partners, meanwhile, are pressing ahead with plans to launch the next crew to the station, while also studying what this unprecedented evacuation means for how they will manage astronaut health on longer, more distant missions in the future, as per CNN.