Astronaut is sick, NASA cancels spacewalk!

NASA has encountered issues with astronauts getting sick multiple times in its history, and this time is particularly serious.

On January 8, the US "Space News" published an article.

The US Space Agency (NASA) had originally planned a spacewalk outside the International Space Station on January 8, but the mission was canceled due to one of the astronauts falling ill.

Several hours later, NASA issued a follow-up statement indicating that the early return of the astronaut to Earth had been put on the agenda.

Expedition-11 is SpaceX's latest crew mission to the International Space Station (ISS), which sent Fink, Kading, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko to the orbital laboratory in early August for a six-month stay.

Currently, the four are scheduled to return to Earth after Expedition-12 arrives in mid-February.

NASA did not disclose which astronaut had health issues, as NASA's privacy policy prohibits the agency from revealing such information.

This is not the first time NASA has postponed extravehicular activities due to health issues.

The space environment is merciless, and once an astronaut steps into the vacuum, the structure of their spacesuit is complex—it is essentially a mini manned spacecraft. The process of putting on an extravehicular activity suit and preparing for a spacewalk takes up to five hours, and once the airlock is opened, it is extremely difficult to remove the spacesuit if an accident occurs.

Therefore, if there are potential problems a few days or even hours before a planned spacewalk, NASA will not hesitate to cancel the mission.

For example, last summer, NASA officials canceled the spacewalk of astronaut Tracy Dyson and Matt Dominick from Expedition 71 due to "spacesuit discomfort."

In August 2020, the spacewalk of NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Japanese astronaut Soichi Nishiyama was canceled several days in advance due to a "minor medical issue."

Earlier, NASA had considered canceling the extravehicular activity of Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart in 1969 due to vomiting caused by space adaptation syndrome during the mission's early stages.

When dealing with medical issues in space, NASA strives to equip astronauts with knowledge and tools to handle various possible situations, but predicting unpredictable events is very difficult.

In one case, an astronaut developed a jugular vein thrombosis, and the medicine reserves on the International Space Station had to be rationed.

At that time, NASA maintained the station's anticoagulant supply for more than 40 days until a resupply mission arrived and replenished the medicines.

NASA, following its usual practice, has not disclosed the identity of the astronaut.

If NASA decides to bring Expedition-11 back to Earth earlier, it is unclear how this will affect subsequent missions to the International Space Station.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1853789567895564/

Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.