A “medical situation” involving an astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS) has given rise to the possibility of SpaceX Crew-11 returning to Earth early.
Station Commander Mike Fincke, 58, and Flight Engineer Zena Cardman, 38, were scheduled to conduct their mission’s first spacewalk on January 8, 2026, at 08:00 EST but on January 7, 2026, NASA announced that it was postponing the event.
In a statement, NASA said staff were “monitoring a medical concern with a crew member that arose Wednesday afternoon aboard the orbital complex”.
Due to medical privacy no further details were given about the astronaut’s condition, however the agency did confirm that the situation is “stable”.
A NASA spokesperson later gave more details about the developing situation aboard the ISS indicating that a possible early return was in play.
“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,” advised the spokesperson.
NASA reiterated that the crew member was stable and added that the matter involved only a single person.
“These are the situations NASA and our partners train for and prepare to execute safely. We will provide further updates within the next 24 hours,” added the spokesperson.
According to CBS News, on January 7, 2026, during a radio exchange with NASA at 14:30 EST, Crew 11 astronaut Kimiya Yui asked for a private medical conference (PMC).
NASA then agreed that a PMC would be setup momentarily. Yui then reportedly asked if a flight surgeon was available and whether NASA had access to a live camera view from inside ISS.
“We don’t have any internal cameras right now, but we can put the lab view in if you’d like,” replied someone from the mission control team in Houston. Subsequently, no further exchanges were heard.
Veteran astronaut Fincke and mission commander Cardman, who were both born in the US, launched from the John F Kennedy space Center on August 1, 2025, along with Yui and Oleg Platonov.
Crew-11 was initially scheduled to return to Earth around February 20, 2026, following a six-month stay at ISS.
Fincke and Cardman’s primary task during the planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk was to install a modification kit and routing cables for a future roll-out solar array.
Secondary tasks include installing jumper cables, taking hardware photos, and collecting microorganism samples.