Space is supposed to be the final frontier, not the setting for a sudden medical mystery. In January 2026, NASA made history by conducting its first medical evacuation from the International Space Station in 25 years of continuous human presence.
Veteran astronaut Mike Fincke, 59, revealed he was the crew member who triggered the emergency. While eating dinner after preparing for a spacewalk, he suddenly couldn’t speak for about 20 minutes. The symptom hit “completely out of the blue” and “amazingly quick,” he told the Associated Press. His crewmates sprang into action, contacting flight surgeons in Houston, and the spacewalk was canceled.
Doctors ruled out choking or a heart attack. One theory links the episode to the effects of long-term microgravity—Fincke had been in space for five and a half months. After an early return aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon and splashdown in the Pacific, Fincke underwent extensive tests on Earth, but the exact cause remains unknown.
NASA Astronaut Reveals Terrifying Medical Incident That Caused Evacuation from Space Station
