Astronaut whose medical issue prompted NASA’s first early return from the ISS speaks out

Veteran NASA astronaut Mike Fincke has confirmed he was the crew member who had a concerning “medical event” that led to an early exit from the International Space Station last month.

Fincke and his fellow crew members — NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and cosmonaut Oleg Platonov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos — returned from the space station in mid-January, leaving behind a skeleton crew of just three astronauts to staff the orbiting laboratory, nearly the size of a football field.

The group’s sudden departure marks the first time in NASA history that it has had to abort an ISS staffing mission for health reasons. At the time, the space agency did not reveal which astronaut had the medical problem or reveal the nature of the problem.

Aside from naming himself publicly, Fincke has not given details about his health.

“I experienced a medical event that required the immediate attention of my incredible teammates,” Fincke said in a statement Wednesday. “Thanks to their rapid response and the guidance of our NASA flight surgeons, my condition quickly stabilized.”

Fincke said NASA determined the crew would need to return to Earth to take advantage of “advanced medical imaging not available on the space station.”

The ISS is equipped with medical equipment, although it does not have all the tools that a typical emergency room would have.

NASA said during the crew’s return trip that the affected astronaut was in stable condition. But it remains unclear whether the medical event constituted a life-threatening emergency or how Fincke’s teammates were able to resolve the problem.

NASA has a long-standing policy of withholding personal medical information about its astronauts for privacy reasons. Information about the impact of spaceflight on the human body or other medical problems occurring during missions is usually made public as part of broader scientific studies and research.

Previous academic studies have explored conditions such as space adaptation syndrome — a condition characterized by vomiting and dizziness experienced by many astronauts during their first hours in microgravity — and revealed some medical problems in space, including optic nerve swelling and blood clots, usually without naming those affected.

NASA Privacy Protocol

After Fincke and his three crewmates, called Crew-11, returned home, they appeared together at a news conference at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. At the time, the astronauts refused to identify who had suffered the medical problem. But they said they did not view their return as an emergency and believed the incident illustrated how NASA training and preparation allowed them to return home safely.

“The way we handled everything from nominal operations to this unplanned operation really bodes well for future exploration,” Fincke said at the Jan. 21 news conference.

The unexpected medical problem set off a series of rapid events as NASA canceled a planned spacewalk, quickly scheduled the group’s return trip, then worked to expedite the launch of the space agency’s next staffing mission to the orbiting outpost.

A group of four astronauts, called Crew-12, arrived at the space station on Feb. 14, bringing the workforce down to seven people — the number NASA typically wants to keep science experiments and other tasks on track.

“I am doing very well and continuing standard post-flight reconditioning at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Spaceflight is an incredible privilege, and sometimes it reminds us how human we are,” Fincke said in a written statement Wednesday. “Thank you all for your support.”

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