Fincke, a 58-year-old astronaut, said the condition that led to the evacuation last month aboard the International Space Station is what prompted NASA’s first medical evacuation of a crew member from the orbiting lab. In a statement released this week, the spaceflight veteran said he experienced what he called a “medical event that required immediate attention” by fellow astronauts, and he said the situation stabilized quickly with support from crewmates and medical specialists on the ground.

Fincke said his condition was not an emergency at the time of the broader response, and he emphasized that the evacuation allowed the crew to “take advantage of advanced medical imaging not available on the space station.” He also said he was doing well now.

In the statement, Fincke described the human side of the mission experience. He said, “Spaceflight is an incredible privilege, and sometimes it reminds us just how human we are,” and he made clear that his diagnosis was not the kind of sustained emergency that would continue to affect his wellbeing after the intervention.

The medical event occurred during Fincke’s current mission, which began when he launched with three other astronauts on a SpaceX flight last summer. The mission ended early on Jan. 15, a week after the medical event, and NASA canceled a planned spacewalk by Fincke and another astronaut as the health concern reshaped flight plans.

After their splashdown in the Pacific, all four astronauts were taken to a San Diego hospital, and they returned to Houston the next day. With Fincke’s identity previously kept undisclosed, he later discussed the crisis publicly at a news conference a week after returning, saying at the time that the space station’s ultrasound machine had come in handy.

In Wednesday’s update, Fincke elaborated on how medical imaging helped guide the response once the decision to evacuate was underway. He said the crew wanted to benefit from advanced imaging on the ground that was not available on the station, while also stressing that the immediate need for attention passed as support arrived from flight surgeons and fellow crewmates.

Fincke, who became an astronaut in 1996 and is a retired Air Force colonel, has logged 549 days in space over four missions, and his disclosure comes after NASA had previously reported the episode in general terms during the initial announcement of the evacuation.