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Sick Astronaut on ISS Forces Early Command Switch from NASA Crew Member to Russian Cosmonaut
NASA astronaut and ISS chief Mike Fincke transferred station command to a Russian cosmonaut forward of an unprecedented medical evacuation
Screenshot through NASA YouTube
Command over the Worldwide Area Station (ISS) has modified arms. In a ceremony onboard the station on Monday, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke relinquished the cost of the ISS’s Expedition 74 over to Russian cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov.
Fincke thanked his fellow crew members on the ISS as he handed over command to Kud-Sverchkov, including that it had been nice to serve alongside the Russian cosmonaut earlier than thanking every of the opposite Expedition 74 crew individually.
“It’s bittersweet,” Fincke mentioned through the live-streamed ceremony, which was broadcast from the ISS. Fincke then handed a key to the ISS to Kud-Sverchkov.
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“Regardless of all of the adjustments and all of the difficulties, we’re going to do our job onboard ISS, performing all of the scientific duties, upkeep duties right here, no matter occurs,” Kud-Sverchkov mentioned earlier than making his first command: a bunch hug.
The trade got here after NASA ordered the evacuation of 4 astronauts who’re at present on the ISS as a result of one in every of them fell sick; NASA has described the unidentified crew member as “secure” however hasn’t launched any additional particulars about their id or situation. The departing quartet make up Crew-11: Fincke, fellow NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.
Even supposing one in every of them prompted such an unprecedented transfer, all seven members of Expedition 74 appeared and spoke through the broadcast on Monday.
Their departure will cut back the station’s occupants to only three—NASA’s Chris Williams and cosmonauts Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, who collectively make up the Soyuz MS-28 crew.
The departing astronauts are anticipated to undock from the station on Wednesday earlier than they splash down off the coast of California someday within the early hours on Thursday morning native time.
NASA hasn’t launched any particulars about what precisely occurred onboard the station to immediate the evacuation, however the state of affairs is a primary: the company has by no means introduced a crew house from the ISS forward of schedule due to a medical downside earlier than. Officers haven’t revealed which crew member has been affected or what concern they’ve encountered.
Monday’s command handover was additionally atypical: Fincke’s early departure means the station command falls to the following highest-ranking crew member onboard, who’s Kud-Sverchkov. Earlier than the evacuation was ordered, Fincke had anticipated to switch management of the station to the incoming Crew-12 commander, Jessica Meir—who, together with the three different members of Crew-12, is slated to reach on the ISS in February.
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