NASA Addresses Terrifying International Space Station Audio Broadcast

An official NASA livestream that appeared to indicate that a dire medical emergency was unfolding on board the International Space Station Wednesday was actually audio of a drill taking place on Earth, the space agency said in a statement.

The audio that aired at about 5:28 p.m. CDT on a YouTube livestream suggested that an ISS crew member “was experiencing effects related to decompression sickness (DCS),” NASA said on its ISS X account. The condition—colloquially known as “the bends”—involves gas bubbles forming in the bloodstream due to changes in atmospheric pressure, which can be fatal.

Purported copies of the audio shared online, which have not been verified by NASA, captured a female voice instructing members of the crew to get the commander “back in his suit.” The voice can also be heard telling the astronauts to check his pulse and give him oxygen, adding at one point that his prognosis is “tenuous.”

Read more at The Daily Beast.