NASA astronaut Mike Fincke leaves agency months after medical emergency in space

Key Points:

• Longtime NASA astronaut Mike Fincke is retiring from the space agency, with his last day being Wednesday, following a medical emergency aboard the International Space Station (ISS) earlier this year.
• Fincke experienced a mysterious ailment during his recent mission that caused a temporary loss of speech, prompting NASA to cut the mission short and return him and three crewmates to Earth weeks early—the first time an ISS mission was shortened for health reasons.
• Over his nearly 30-year career, Fincke completed four spaceflights, nine spacewalks, and spent 549 days in orbit, ranking fourth highest in time spent in space among NASA astronauts.
• Despite leaving NASA, Fincke expressed his commitment to space exploration and plans to help prepare the next generation of explorers, though he has not disclosed his future plans.
• The medical incident remains under investigation, and NASA used the crew’s early return to access advanced medical imaging unavailable on the ISS, while staffing levels on the station were temporarily reduced before being restored with the arrival of Crew-12.