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NASA is cutting short a mission aboard the International Space Station after an astronaut had a medical issue.
The space agency said Thursday that the U.S.-Japanese-Russian crew of four will return to Earth in the coming days, earlier than planned.
NASA cancelled its first spacewalk of the year because of the health issue. The space agency did not identify the astronaut or the medical issue, citing patient privacy. The crew member is now stable.
Seven astronauts are currently living and working aboard the space station. The latest crew arrived in August after launching from Florida.
“I’m proud of the swift effort across the agency thus far to ensure the safety of our astronauts,” NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said at a Thursday news conference.
The crew of four returning home arrived at the orbiting lab via SpaceX in August for a stay of at least six months. The crew included U.S. astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.
Cardman and Fincke were supposed to carry out the spacewalk to make preparations for a future rollout of solar panels to provide additional power for the space station.
It was Fincke’s fourth visit to the space station and Yiu’s second time, according to NASA. This was the first spaceflight for Cardman and Platonov.
Three other astronauts are currently living and working aboard the space station, including NASA’s Chris Williams and Russia’s Sergei Mikaev and Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, who launched in November aboard a Soyuz rocket for an eight-month stay. They’re due to return home in the summer.