{"id":6542,"date":"2026-02-27T14:20:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=6542"},"modified":"2026-02-27T14:20:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:20:18","slug":"nasa-mike-fincke-reveals-he-was-ill-astronaut-during-iss-medical-evacuation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=6542","title":{"rendered":"NASA Mike Fincke reveals he was ill astronaut during ISS medical evacuation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>NASA\u2019s Mike Fincke identified himself Wednesday as the astronaut whose medical condition prompted the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/15\/us-news\/spacex-crew-11-astronauts-return-to-earth-early-in-nasas-first-medical-evacuation\/\">space agency\u2019s first\u00a0medical evacuation.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In a written statement, the 58-year-old spaceflight veteran revealed he was the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/08\/world-news\/nasa-weighs-rare-early-return-of-iss-crew-after-astronaut-suffers-sudden-medical-issue\/\">ailing crew member<\/a>\u00a0last month aboard <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/14\/us-news\/nasa-conducts-first-medical-evacuation-from-space-station\/\">the\u00a0International Space Station.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>He did not say what was wrong with him but explained that his condition quickly stabilized thanks to his crewmates and flight surgeons on the ground.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>NASA astronaut Mike Fincke is helped out of the SpaceX Crew-11 capsule after returning to Earth on Jan. 15, 2026. <span class=\"credit\">AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Fincke said he\u2019s doing well now.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSpaceflight is an incredible privilege, and sometimes it reminds us just how human we are,\u201d he said in the statement.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Fincke launched with three others on a SpaceX flight last summer.<\/p>\n<p>Their mission came to an early end on Jan. 15, a week after he experienced what he called a \u201cmedical event that required immediate attention\u201d by his fellow astronauts.<\/p>\n<p>The health concern also forced the cancellation of a planned spacewalk by Fincke and another NASA astronaut.<\/p>\n<p>Following their splashdown in the Pacific, all four astronauts were taken to a San Diego hospital. They flew home to Houston the next day.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, Mike Fincke, Zena Cardman, and JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui sit inside the return capsule during their return from the International Space Station on Jan. 15, 2026. <span class=\"credit\">via REUTERS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Following their splashdown in the Pacific, all four astronauts were taken to a San Diego hospital. They flew home to Houston the next day. <span class=\"credit\">via REUTERS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>With the sick astronaut\u2019s identity still a secret, Fincke said at a news conference a week after returning that the space station\u2019s ultrasound machine came in handy during the medical crisis.<\/p>\n<p>He elaborated Wednesday, stressing that his situation was not an emergency but that everyone wanted \u201cto take advantage of advanced medical imaging not available on the space station.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fincke, a retired Air Force colonel who became an astronaut in 1996, has logged 549 days in space over four missions.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script\n\t\t\t\ttype=\"text\/plain\"\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"optanon-category-C0017\"\n\t\t\t\tdefer\n\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t!function (f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {\n\t\t\t\t\tif (f.fbq) return;\n\t\t\t\t\tn = f.fbq = function () {\n\t\t\t\t\t\tn.callMethod ?\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tn.callMethod.apply(n, arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments)\n\t\t\t\t\t};\n\t\t\t\t\tif (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n;\n\t\t\t\t\tn.push = n;\n\t\t\t\t\tn.loaded = !0;\n\t\t\t\t\tn.version = &#8216;2.0&#8217;;\n\t\t\t\t\tn.queue = [];\n\t\t\t\t\tt = b.createElement(e);\n\t\t\t\t\tt.async = !0;\n\t\t\t\t\tt.src = v;\n\t\t\t\t\ts = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n\t\t\t\t\ts.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s)\n\t\t\t\t}(window, document, &#8216;script&#8217;,\n\t\t\t\t\t&#8216;https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js&#8217;);\n\t\t\t\tfbq(&#8216;init&#8217;, &#8216;1391750046313645&#8217;);\n\t\t\t\tfbq(&#8216;track&#8217;, &#8216;PageView&#8217;);\n\t\t\t<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/26\/science\/nasa-mike-fincke-reveals-he-was-ill-astronaut-during-iss-medical-evacuation\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASA\u2019s Mike Fincke identified himself Wednesday as the astronaut whose medical condition prompted the space agency\u2019s first\u00a0medical evacuation. In a written statement, the 58-year-old spaceflight veteran&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}