Bill Ingalls / NASA
NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, commander of Crew-11, was the first to exit the capsule
Astronaut Michael Fincke suffered a medical emergency in January that left him unable to speak. The incident, which led to the evacuation of a crew from the International Space Station for the first time, which “is related to space”, remains unexplained.
The NASA astronaut who, without apparent explanation, was unable to speak during a mission to the International Space Station and whose clinical episode led to his return to Earth said this week that doctors continue not knowing what happened.
In several interviews given on Friday, Michael Fincke identified himself as the astronaut who suffered the medical emergency in January. It was not clear during How long were you unable to speak? not even when he regained the ability to do so, notes the .
Fincke arrived at the International Space Station in August in one of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsules, along with Cardman womanalso from NASA, Yui Kimiyafrom JAXA, the Japanese space agency, and Oleg Platonovfrom Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. The team spent 167 days in space.
At the time announced, NASA officials said the affected astronaut was stable and did not require an emergency return immediate. The return was motivated by limitations of medical equipment available aboard the space station, they added.
The mission was initially expected to end in February, after the arrival of Crew-12, the next group of four astronauts. Instead, the Crew-11 astronauts returned earlyand on January 15th.
In the 25-year history of the space station, it was the first time that astronauts returned ahead of schedule due to a health problem. The four astronauts were transported to a hospital for medical evaluation, in part to protect the privacy of the astronaut in need of care.
Fincke told the woman he was having dinner on January 7th, when suddenly stopped being able to speak. “It was completely out of the blue. It happened amazingly quickly.” The astronaut said that had no painbut the companions realized that something was wrong and they reacted immediately.
“Doctors remain unexplained“, said Fincke, accumulated 549 days in space, at. The exams ruled out the possibility of a heart attack or strokehe stated. “We are almost 100% certain that this is related to space”.
“It was disappointing to stop the mission early. We weren’t ready yet. We still had another month. It’s been a long time since I feel like I failed to my friends,” adds Fincke.
In a joking tone, the astronaut said, NASA officials told him that it would not be possible for him to apologize to them. Literally.
