NASA Says ‘No Emergency’ on ISS After Airing Distressed Astronaut Simulation Audio

The International Space Station, on March 30, 2022. Roscosmos Space Agency Press Service via AP

NASA said there is no emergency on the International Space Station (ISS) after audio from a medical drill, in which the crew appeared to be in distress, was mistakenly broadcast on an official live stream.

During the NASA live stream broadcast on YouTube on June 13, a woman who claimed to be a flight surgeon can be heard advising crew members onboard the ISS to “get the commander back in his suit,” check his pulse, and give him oxygen.

“I think at this point, because the hypobaric exposure is the big problem and given his exam, I am concerned that there are some severe DCS (decompression sickness) hits,” she said while advising the crew to put the commander “in the suit as soon as possible.”

Decompression sickness is “a potentially life-threatening condition” that occurs when dissolved gases, such as nitrogen, form bubbles in the bloodstream and tissues, according to the National Institute of Health.

“Unfortunately, the prognosis for the commander is relatively tenuous, I’ll say at this point, to keep it generic,” the flight surgeon added.

The flight surgeon also mentioned to the crew that she found a hospital in San Fernando, in the Cadiz province of Spain, that has “hyperbaric treatment facilities.”

NASA later issued a statement on social media saying that the audio was “inadvertently misrouted from an ongoing simulation where crew members and ground teams train for various scenarios in space.”

“There is no emergency situation going on aboard the International Space Station,” NASA stated on social media platform X.

“At approximately 5:28 p.m. CDT, audio was aired on the NASA live stream from a simulation audio channel on the ground indicating a crew member was experiencing effects related to decompression sickness (DCS),” it added.

NASA said that the audio was “not related to a real emergency” and explained that the ISS crew members “were in their sleep period” at the time of the broadcast.

“All remain healthy and safe, and tomorrow’s spacewalk will start at 8 a.m. EDT as planned,” it stated.

SpaceX said that the audio heard on NASA’s video was “only a test.” The spacecraft maker stated on X that “the crew training in Hawthorne is safe and healthy as is the Dragon spacecraft docked to the @space_station.”

The Dragon spacecraft, developed by SpaceX, is designed to transport crew to and from the ISS.