Nasa postpones ISS spacewalk due to astronaut’s undisclosed minor medical issue

Nasa said the undisclosed issue is ‘not a medical emergency’

Nasa astronaut and Expedition 65 Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei participates in a US spacesuit fit check to get ready for a spacewalk (NASA)

Nasa postponed a spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS) that was originally planned for Tuesday due to a medical issue involving one of the astronauts.

The space agency said in a blog post on Monday that the spacewalk involving Nasa astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide was postponed following a “minor medical issue” involving Vande Hei.

While it did not disclose further details, Nasa said the “issue is not a medical emergency.”

Mr Vande Hei, 54, is a retired army colonel, currently in his second stay at the ISS, serving as Flight Engineer, and is expected to remain there until next spring for a full one-year mission.

In the current spacewalk, Mr Vanda Hei and Mr Hoshide were supposed to venture out and install a support bracket in preparation for future installation of the ISS orbiting laboratory’s third new solar array.

The solar arrays, Nasa said, would upgrade the channels providing power to labs in the ISS.

“The kit prepares the site for future installation and deployment of the third of six new International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays (iROSA) to upgrade one of the station’s eight power channels known as 4A, which provides partial power to the US Laboratory, the Harmony module, and the Columbus module,” the space agency had noted in an earlier statement.

Last week Nasa had said that the duo were gearing up, checking their spacesuits, configuring their tools, and reviewing their procedures for the six-hour and 50-minute spacewalk.

But since the spacewalk is not time-sensitive, Nasa said the ISS crew members are continuing to move forward with other station work and activities, adding that the teams are assessing the next available opportunity to conduct the spacewalk.

“Teams are assessing the next available opportunity to conduct the spacewalk following the SpaceX CRS-23 cargo resupply launch planned for Aug 28 and upcoming Russian spacewalks,” the US space agency noted in the latest blog post.