NASA says the mysterious medical episode that triggered the first emergency evacuation in the history of the International Space Station remains unsolved, after astronaut Mike Fincke revealed that he suddenly lost the ability to speak while aboard the station earlier this year.
Fincke, a veteran astronaut and retired Air Force colonel, told The Associated Press that the incident happened on January 7 while he was eating dinner and preparing for a scheduled spacewalk the next day. According to Fincke, he felt no pain and was not choking, but suddenly could not talk.
The episode lasted around 20 minutes before disappearing as quickly as it began. His crewmates immediately recognized that something was wrong and contacted NASA flight surgeons on the ground, leading the agency to cancel the planned spacewalk and begin preparations for an early return to Earth.
“It was completely out of the blue. It was just amazingly quick,” Fincke said from Johnson Space Center in Houston.
He described the episode as hitting “like a very, very fast lightning bolt,” adding that all six astronauts aboard the station rushed to help him: “It was all hands on deck within just a matter of seconds.”
Fincke’s case drew intense attention because it led to the first medical evacuation in the International Space Station’s 25-year history. NASA ultimately decided to send the entire Crew-11 mission home more than a month ahead of schedule. Fincke, along with fellow astronauts Zena Cardman, Kimiya Yui, and Oleg Platonov, returned to Earth aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on January 15 and were taken directly to a hospital near San Diego after splashdown.
Doctors have since ruled out a heart attack and choking, but NASA says nearly every other possibility is still being investigated. Fincke had logged 549 cumulative days in space before the incident, and doctors are examining whether prolonged exposure to weightlessness may have played a role.
NASA also reviewed records from other astronauts to determine whether similar symptoms had appeared on previous missions. The station’s onboard ultrasound machine was used during the event, but more advanced imaging required Fincke’s return to Earth.
