Astronaut's distress call from International Space Station a mistake, NASA says
Earth has heard a distress call that an astronaut had a tenuous chance of survival on board the International Space Station.
The audio said a crew member was experiencing decompression sickness and was heard over the station's livestream on YouTube on Wednesday (yesterday AEST).
After concerns quickly rose an emergency was unfolding, NASA has confirmed the message was broadcast by mistake and all crew members were healthy and safe.
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Four main components on the Roscosmos segment of the International Space Station are pictured as the orbital outpost soared 261 miles above the north Atlantic Ocean in April 2023. NASA via CNN Newsource
"There is no emergency situation going on aboard the International Space Station," NASA said.
"This audio was inadvertently misrouted from an ongoing simulation where crew members and ground teams train for various scenarios in space and is not related to a real emergency.
"The International Space Station crew members were in their sleep period at the time."
Space X said the audio was a test from crews training in California.
"The crew training in Hawthorne is safe and healthy as is the Dragon spacecraft docked to the Internationals Space Station," Space X said.
The astronauts on board the station at the time, Tracy Dyson and Matt Dominick, were scheduled for a spacewalk the following morning but were forced to cancel due to a "spacesuit discomfort issue".
They will complete their next spacewalk on June 24.
"The crew members on the station are healthy, and spacesuits are functioning as expected," NASA said.
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