NASA revealed the astronaut's health issue on January 7th with a notice postponing his spacewalk due to health issues.
These are situations that NASA and our partners have trained and prepared to perform safely" - NASA affirmed.
NASA did not provide details about the nature of this medical incident, for personal information security reasons. NASA also often did not discuss specific details related to the health of astronauts.
The affected crew member is in stable condition, as confirmed by NASA. This astronaut also expects no special treatment during the journey from the ISS to Earth, said Dr. James Polk - NASA's health and medical director at the agency's headquarters.
Health checks for astronauts on the ground will be best for them, he noted.
We have a very modern set of medical equipment on the International Space Station. But we do not have enough equipment like in the emergency room, for example, to complete the diagnosis and treatment process for patients," he said.
The astronauts returning to Earth this time are in the SpaceX Crew-11 crew, including 2 American astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, astronaut Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and astronaut Oleg Platonov of the Russian Royal Space Agency (Rocosmos).
NASA's newly appointed director, Jared Isaacman, said he made the decision to bring the group of 4 astronauts back based on the fact that 4 crew members of NASA's Crew-12 mission are expected to go to the space station in the coming weeks. Crew-11 will leave the ISS space station within "a few days," Isaacman said.
When the Crew-11 astronauts returned to Earth, only 1 NASA astronaut remained on the ISS, Chris Williams. This astronaut arrived at the space station at the end of November on the Russian Soyuz.
NASA officials affirmed that astronaut Williams was well prepared to handle any assigned mission and Crew-12 astronauts will soon arrive at the space station to bring the number of personnel back to normal.
Dr. Farhan Asrar, a space medicine researcher and associate professor at the School of Medicine at the University of Toronto Metropolitan, said that healthcare providers face special challenges when treating or diagnosing astronauts at times when astronauts fly around orbit, at an altitude of 320km above Earth, these conditions can turn common diseases such as tooth and ear pain into difficult-to-answer medical problems.
Although astronauts are regularly checked for health, the harsh environment of space still puts significant pressure on health (causing stress on the heart, bones, eyes, kidneys, mood and other systems)" - Mr. Asrar said.
NASA's decision to keep the names of astronauts affected by their health and details of their condition secret follows a long-established model. Information about the impact of space flight on the human body or other medical problems that occur in missions is often made public within the framework of broader scientific research, and astronauts are often not named.
