Now We Know the Rest of the Story about that ISS Medical Emergency

While NASA had kept it quiet for a while, we now know that the medical evacuation of Crew-11 from the International Space Station (ISS) last month related to NASA astronaut Mike Fincke (age 58).

While we still do not know the underlying medical condition, and maybe never will, it appears Fincke is still recovering given that he has stated:

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…Thank you all for your support.

It is good that he reminds us of human frailty as we send manned spacecraft to the Moon again, while also contemplating the daunting task of sending humans to Mars.

We were reminded of human frailty again this past weekend when a US Navy sub had to resurface near Greenland because of crew member’s medical condition. A submarine submerged for months at a time is probably as close as you will get to the conditions and isolation of a spacecraft going to Mars.

Note: An interesting fact about Mike Fincke is that he appeared as a guest star on the last episode of Star Trek: Enterprise in 2025. He played the part of Lt. M. Fincke.