Astronaut Mike Fincke reveals it was his medical issue that led to unprecedented early mission end

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

The group’s sudden departure marked the first time in history NASA had to cut short an ISS staffing mission for health reasons. At the time, the space agency did not disclose which astronaut had the medical concern or reveal the nature of the issue.

Apart from publicly naming himself, Fincke did not give details about his medical condition.

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

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

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

NASA had said during the crew’s journey home that the affected astronaut was in stable condition. But it’s still not clear whether the medical event amounted to a life-threatening emergency or how Fincke’s crewmates were able to address the issue.

NASA has a long-established 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 concerns that occur during missions are generally made public as part of broader scientific studies and research.

Previous academic studies have explored conditions such as space adaptation syndrome — an ailment characterized by vomiting and vertigo that is experienced by many astronauts during their first hours in microgravity — and revealed some in-space medical issues, including optic nerve swelling and blood clots, typically without naming the people who were affected.

NASA’s privacy protocol

After Fincke and his three crewmates, referred to as Crew-11, returned home, they appeared together at a news conference at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. At the time, the astronauts declined to identify who had experienced the medical concern. But they said they did not consider their return to be an emergency and felt that the incident had exemplified how NASA’s training and preparedness allowed them to make a safe trip back home.

“How we handled everything all the way through, from nominal operations to this unforeseen operation, really bodes well for future exploration,” Fincke said during the January 21 news conference.

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

A group of four astronauts, referred to as Crew-12, arrived at the space station on February 14 , brining staffing levels back up to seven people — the number NASA typically desires to keep scientific experiments and other duties on track.

“I’m 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 just how human we are,” Fincke said in a written statement Wednesday. “Thank you all for your support.”

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