Astronaut Suffers ‘Medical Incident’ Aboard Space Station

When I was a kid my Dad always told me he thought I would make a great astronaut. When I would ask him why he would just smile. Until one day when I pressed him on the issue. I asked, "why do you think I would make a good astronaut"? He explained it was because he felt there was between my ears but space.

Okay, all jokes aside, the astronauts onboard the International Space Station are some of the most unsung heroes of our time. Goodness knows what kind of interesting things will be brought back to our world because of discoveries made in zero gravity.

One of the ways our space explorers learn about the realm outside our atmosphere is by taking spacewalks. There was supposed to be just such a spacewalk outside the ISS today. That mission was cancelled because of what is being described by NASA as a "minor medical issue" with one of the astronauts.

That astronaut, Mark Vande Hei along with Akihiko Hoshide were supposed to step outside the ISS today. That mission has been postponed because Vande Hei suffered a medical issue. NASA did not disclose what that issue was and the space agency was very adamant about not calling the malady "a medical emergency".

NASA has not indicated whether or not they will be releasing more information on Vande Hei's condition but they did say the spacewalk was not time-sensitive. In fact, NASA and the crew aboard the ISS are trying to determine the next opportunity to hold that spacewalk will be.

This Saturday SpaceX is scheduled to launch a Cargo Dragon Spacecraft to resupply the station. Based on current NASA schedules the next spacewalk that will occur will happen when two Russian cosmonauts step outside of the spacecraft to complete the installation of the latest Russian addition to the space station a module called Nauka.

Can you imagine what it would feel like to suffer any kind of medical issue while onboard a spaceship? Heck, I get nervous in a bass boat wondering when my diarrhea medicine will kick in. I know you'll join me in wishing Mark Vande Hei a speedy recovery from whatever the issue happens to be.

By the way, did you know you can watch live cameras from the ISS? I find it fascinating to see if I can figure out what part of the globe the craft is flying over. And on some nights when the sky is clear, you can actually watch the ISS soar across the darkened sky.

It certainly brings me back to a simpler time in my life, when the only thing that really needed to be between my ears was space. Man, I miss those times.