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Space Station crew in medical evacuation

The latest space-flight news, reported by Steven Young.

A medical emergency forced NASA to bring home four crew members from the International Space Station a month earlier than planned. NASA astronauts Zena Cardman, Michael Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui, and Russia’s Oleg Platonov were not scheduled to end their six-and-a-half-month mission until late February, but came back to Earth on 15 January after one of them experienced a major health problem. Citing medical privacy, NASA refused to disclose which of the crew members was affected or exactly what happened. When the emergency arose on 7 January, the space station crew was preparing for a spacewalk by Cardman and Fincke. The spacewalk was cancelled, but the space agency did say the medical issue was unrelated to that activity. The early departure left just two Russians and one American aboard the station. NASA hopes to move up the launch of a new crew aboard a Dragon Capsule to bring the station back to its full crew complement.

New Starship version to debut

SpaceX hopes to launch the first of a new version of its Starship vehicle in March, according to company founder Elon Musk. The version 3 Starship and its Super Heavy vehicle are expected to fly from a newly constructed second launch pad at the company’s Starbase test facility in south Texas. The launch comes a few months later than planned, after the booster for the test flight ruptured during pressure testing. “They’ve had a couple of bumps in the road recently, but we are looking forward to that first version 3 launch,” said Lori Glaze, who heads NASA’s exploration division. The space agency is closely monitoring the development of the fully reusable rocket, as a modified Starship is intended to land astronauts back on the Moon during the Artemis 3 mission.

Artemis Moon rocket at launch pad

NASA’s mammoth Moon rocket, the Space Launch System or SLS, sprung a hydrogen leak during a crucial pre-launch fuelling test on 2/3 February, dashing hopes for a February launch of the Artemis 2 mission. Following the so-called wet dress rehearsal, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the flight to loop a crew of four astronauts around the Moon would now take place no earlier than March. "We fully anticipated encountering challenges," he said. "That is precisely why we conduct a wet dress rehearsal.” The launch window in March runs from 6 to 12 March. It will be the first time astronauts have returned to the vicinity of the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. Visit spaceflightnow.com for the very latest news.