NASA Postpones Spacewalk Just Hours Before Astronauts Were to Exit ISS
Two NASA astronauts were scheduled to complete a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk on January 8, but the agency has postponed it indefinitely
NASA astronaut Mike Fincke poses inside the International Space Station’s Quest airlock next to a spacesuit.
NASA on Wednesday delayed a scheduled spacewalk from the International Space Station (ISS) just hours before two astronauts were due exit the orbiting laboratory.
The agency said in a statement that “a medical concern with a crew member that arose Wednesday afternoon” had caused the postponement. The announcement came just four hours after NASA reported that the space station crew had concluded preparations for the endeavor, which is more formally known as extravehicular activity or EVA. NASA did not provide any details about which astronaut was affected or the nature of the situation, citing medical privacy.
“The situation is stable,” the statement read. “NASA will share additional details, including a new date for the upcoming spacewalk, later.”
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NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman were due to exit the station around 8 a.m. EST on January 8 for a six-and-a-half-hour project to install and prepare some new hardware for a future roll-out solar array. If time had permitted, they were also expected to take photographs of hardware and sample of microorganisms living on the station’s exterior.
The other current ISS crewmembers are NASA astronaut Chris Williams, Russian cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, Oleg Platonov and Sergei Mikaev, and Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui. All seven crewmembers have been in space for more than five months.
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