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6h ago

Mike Fincke Leaves NASA After 30-Year Astronaut Career

His departure follows an unexplained Jan. 7, 2026, medical episode aboard the International Space Station that forced an early evacuation and removes a senior Commercial Crew operations expert from NASA.

NASA astronaut Mike Fincke walks out of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building alongside other Crew-11 mission astronauts, before heading to pad 39A for launch to the International Space Station at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on August 1, 2025.
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Overview

  • NASA confirmed Wednesday that veteran astronaut Mike Fincke departed the agency after exactly 30 years, ending a career that included four spaceflights, 549 days in orbit, and nine spacewalks.
  • Fincke’s final mission was SpaceX Crew‑11, which returned early to Earth in mid‑January after he experienced a sudden loss of speech on Jan. 7, 2026, an episode he later described as lasting about 20 minutes.
  • NASA and Fincke said the crew returned so doctors could use advanced medical imaging not available on the station, and neither has publicly disclosed a medical diagnosis.
  • Fincke played leadership roles in the Commercial Crew Program and trained across Soyuz, Space Shuttle, and SpaceX Dragon platforms, making his exit consequential for institutional knowledge on crewed spacecraft operations.
  • The medical evacuation marked the first time NASA cut short a staffed ISS mission for health reasons, and the episode has prompted continued attention to in‑orbit medical limits, crew privacy, and staffing continuity for future missions.