NASA has halted its first planned spacewalk of the year and is weighing whether to send a crew home from the International Space Station earlier than planned after one astronaut developed a significant medical problem.

Two NASA astronauts step outside the International Space Station in January 2026, installing new hardware, testing safety systems, and collecting clues about life on the station’s outer skin.

From a distance, the International Space Station looks calm, almost poetic. It drifts quietly above Earth, a thin line of light crossing the night sky.

Marshall Smith, who spent 37 years at NASA before moving to Starlab, told Sky News space stations were "critical" for research in microgravity. "Life support systems, they don’t work on the ground [like how] they work in space and microgravity," he said.

The unnamed crew member is stable aboard the International Space Station, officials said, but needs care on Earth.