Spacewalk Canceled, Medical Issue Prompts Rare Talk of Early ISS Crew Return [4:05]

YouTube transcript reformatted at textformatter.ai follows.

Transcript

ISS Crew 11 Situation Update

So, there appears to be what’s turning into a pretty serious situation aboard the ISS, and I want to talk about it. This is regarding Crew 11 aboard the International Space Station, and they’ve been up there since August. But NASA is now considering a rare early return of an ISS crew after cancelling a planned spacewalk that was scheduled for Thursday, which we don’t see happen very often. The reason apparently is an unspecified medical issue involving one of the astronauts on board. They unfortunately have been very tight-lipped here. So that’s pretty normal. But we don’t know which astronaut exactly is involved with the medical issue. Although a NASA spokesperson confirmed that the astronaut in question is in stable condition and, of course, still in orbit.

The fact that NASA is even floating the idea of ending the mission early and kind of telling us publicly tells you that this is becoming a pretty serious situation. They said, quote, “Safely conducting our missions is our highest priority and we are actively evaluating all options, including the possibility of an earlier end to Crew 11’s mission, which is not language that NASA uses lightly.”

Context on Crew 11

Now, some context on who this affects. Crew 11 launched back in August and includes Zena Cardman, Mike Fininky, Kamiya Yui from Japan, and Oleg Platininov from Russia. They were originally scheduled to stay on the station for a pretty standard 6 to 8 months with a return planned around May, but hey, here we are in January. Zena Cardman’s story is especially interesting here because she was originally slated for an earlier mission, but that flight got delayed and she was reassigned to Crew 11 instead. If you guys remember, why was her flight delayed? Well, because they had to move things around when they rescued the stranded Butch and Sunny who were up at the ISS for 9 months after the Boeing Starliner whole saga. So, this mission was already kind of a reshuffle moment for her career, and now it’s facing even more uncertainty.

Cancelled Spacewalk

Let’s talk about the spacewalk that was just cancelled. It was supposed to be a 6 and a half hour EVA with Mike and Zena heading outside the station to install new hardware. And that’s important for another reason. This spacewalk would have put Mike in record-tying territory. He’s already done multiple spacewalks in his career, and this one would have tied him with some of the most experienced EVA astronauts in history, so cancelling it wasn’t a trivial decision. NASA doesn’t cancel EVAs unless they really have to because spacewalks are some of the most physically demanding and risky operations astronauts do. They require months of training, extremely precise coordination, and those bulky space suits that, as we’ve seen before, can become a problem all on their own.

In fact, this isn’t unprecedented. NASA called off a spacewalk in 2024 at the last minute due to space suit discomfort. And back in 2021, astronaut Mark Vande Hei had to scrub a spacewalk because of a pinched nerve. Medical issues in space are treated as closely held information, and astronauts almost never speak publicly about them. So I saw earlier today that they were going to cancel the spacewalk, and that definitely piqued my interest. But then when I saw this language of them possibly returning early entirely, there must be something somewhat serious going on.

So that’s the latest. I’ll keep tracking this story, but hopefully that crew member is okay. And, you know, obviously safety is a priority, but it’ll be interesting to see if they have to shift things around and do a much earlier return. This is definitely a developing story.

Transcript

ISS Crew 11 Situation Update

So, there appears to be what’s turning into a pretty serious situation aboard the ISS, and I want to talk about it. This is regarding Crew 11 aboard the International Space Station, and they’ve been up there since August. But NASA is now considering a rare early return of an ISS crew after cancelling a planned spacewalk that was scheduled for Thursday, which we don’t see happen very often. The reason apparently is an unspecified medical issue involving one of the astronauts on board. They unfortunately have been very tight-lipped here. So that’s pretty normal. But we don’t know which astronaut exactly is involved with the medical issue. Although a NASA spokesperson confirmed that the astronaut in question is in stable condition and, of course, still in orbit.

The fact that NASA is even floating the idea of ending the mission early and kind of telling us publicly tells you that this is becoming a pretty serious situation. They said, quote, “Safely conducting our missions is our highest priority and we are actively evaluating all options, including the possibility of an earlier end to Crew 11’s mission, which is not language that NASA uses lightly.”

Context on Crew 11

Now, some context on who this affects. Crew 11 launched back in August and includes Zena Cardman, Mike Fininky, Kamiya Yui from Japan, and Oleg Platininov from Russia. They were originally scheduled to stay on the station for a pretty standard 6 to 8 months with a return planned around May, but hey, here we are in January. Zena Cardman’s story is especially interesting here because she was originally slated for an earlier mission, but that flight got delayed and she was reassigned to Crew 11 instead. If you guys remember, why was her flight delayed? Well, because they had to move things around when they rescued the stranded Butch and Sunny who were up at the ISS for 9 months after the Boeing Starliner whole saga. So, this mission was already kind of a reshuffle moment for her career, and now it’s facing even more uncertainty.

Cancelled Spacewalk

Let’s talk about the spacewalk that was just cancelled. It was supposed to be a 6 and a half hour EVA with Mike and Zena heading outside the station to install new hardware. And that’s important for another reason. This spacewalk would have put Mike in record-tying territory. He’s already done multiple spacewalks in his career, and this one would have tied him with some of the most experienced EVA astronauts in history, so cancelling it wasn’t a trivial decision. NASA doesn’t cancel EVAs unless they really have to because spacewalks are some of the most physically demanding and risky operations astronauts do. They require months of training, extremely precise coordination, and those bulky space suits that, as we’ve seen before, can become a problem all on their own.

In fact, this isn’t unprecedented. NASA called off a spacewalk in 2024 at the last minute due to space suit discomfort. And back in 2021, astronaut Mark Vande Hei had to scrub a spacewalk because of a pinched nerve. Medical issues in space are treated as closely held information, and astronauts almost never speak publicly about them. So I saw earlier today that they were going to cancel the spacewalk, and that definitely piqued my interest. But then when I saw this language of them possibly returning early entirely, there must be something somewhat serious going on.

So that’s the latest. I’ll keep tracking this story, but hopefully that crew member is okay. And, you know, obviously safety is a priority, but it’ll be interesting to see if they have to shift things around and do a much earlier return. This is definitely a developing story.

One of the spacewalkers, from the sound of it.

Diarrhea in a space suit is a terrible thing............

Biden Admin sent people to space that should stayed on the ground

They weren't feeling well, complained of chest pains...then bam!
alien cb

And then this happened:

That is the thing I would worry about for a Mars mission, a medical issue that would require a return to Earth on a mission that doesn’t plan a return (or is incapable of turning around) for years.

Ok...who forgot to pack the Imodium?!

Covid. The virus can survive space vacuum/s

Mars mission ,you get sick and we eject you into space.

I don’t worry about that, because I ain’t goin’!

NASA caught this boast from Mike Fink (sic) on the comms an hour or so before suit-up:

“I’m a Salt River Roarer! Im a ring-tailed squealer! I’m a reg’lar screamer from the ol’ Massassip’! WHOOP! I’m the very infant that refused his milk before its eyes were open, and called out for a bottle of old Rye! I love the women an’ I’m chockful o’ fight! I’m half wild horse and half cockeyed-alligator[5] and the rest o’ me is crooked snags an’ red hot snappin’ turtle. I can hit like fourth-proof lightnin’ an’ every lick I make in the woods lets in an acre o’ sunshine. I can out-run, out-jump, out-shoot, out-brag, out-drink, an’ out fight, rough-an’-tumble, no holts barred, ary man on both sides the river from Pittsburg to New Orleans an’ back again to St. Louiee. Come on, you flatters, you bargers, you milk-white mechanics, an’ see how tough I am to chaw! I ain’t had a fight for two days an’ I’m spilein’ for exercise. Cock-a-doodle-doo!”

No one’s quite sure what it’s about. But it might be related to the cancellation and recall. …Or maybe not! 😄🙂

I asked for the duplicate in #3 to be deleted, btw.

😉

Thank you for the effort in creating the clear text format. Easy to read!

It was so nice, I did it twice. 😳

If your #*^& lasts for more than 12 hours...