Nasa was forced to deny that there was an emergency on board the International Space Station (ISS), after an official live stream accidentally broadcast a medical exercise simulating a crew member in extreme medical distress, causing alarm on social media.
“There is no emergency situation on board the International Space Station,” Nasa’s ISS account posted on X. “Audio was accidentally misdirected from an ongoing simulation where crew members and ground crews train for various scenarios in space.”
Wednesday at 17:30 CDT (22:30 GMT), footage from Nasa’s ISS live stream was replaced with a message that the feed was “temporarily interrupted” and that the video would return when the “connection was restored”.
Shortly thereafter, a person who appeared to be communicating with the crew aboard the ISS began issuing advisories related to a severe emergency involving a “commander” who was experiencing decompression sickness.
“So if we could get the commander back into his suit, seal it… for appropriate hyperbaric treatment… Before sealing, closing the visor and pressurizing the suit, I’d like you to take his pulse one more time checking,” the speaker, who identified herself as a flight surgeon working at the SpaceX mission control center in Hawthorne, California.
There is no emergency situation aboard the International Space Station. At approximately 17:28 CDT, audio was broadcast on the NASA live stream from a simulation audio channel on the ground indicating that a crew member was experiencing effects associated with decompression…
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) June 13, 2024
According to Nasaflight surgeons are physicians with specialized training in aviation medicine based at mission control centers.
Hundreds of people watched the popular Nasa live stream on YouTube as the simulation continued and the “commander’s” situation appeared to deteriorate.
“I am concerned that there is severe DCS [decompression sickness] hits…unfortunately, the prognosis for commander is relatively slim,” said the unnamed flight surgeon.
Several popular space accounts quickly drew attention to the incident on social media, with one user calling it “strange and disturbing.”
Eric Berger, space editor at tech publication Ars Technica, called the broadcast “genuinely scary,” while many others were quick to identify that it was likely a drill.
SpaceX clarified later that what viewers heard was a test apparently taking place in California and that all training crew were “safe and sound”.
Nasa said the simulation was not related to any real emergency and the ISS crew members were in fact in their “sleep period” when the exercise was accidentally broadcast.
“Everyone remains healthy and safe, and tomorrow’s spacewalk will begin at 8 a.m. EDT as planned,” Nasa said in its statement.
