Jan 8 (Reuters) - NASA is considering a rare early return of an astronaut and its crew from the International Space Station (ISS) over an unspecified medical issue, hours after cancelling a planned spacewalk that had been scheduled for Thursday, the agency said.

A NASA spokeswoman said the astronaut, who she did not identify out of medical privacy, was in a stable condition on the orbiting laboratory.

"Safely conducting our missions is our highest priority, and we are actively evaluating all options, including the possibility of an earlier end to Crew-11’s mission," the spokeswoman said in a statement on Wednesday night.

Returning the four-person Crew-11 crew would be a rare consequence of a medical issue aboard the ISS, where astronauts typically live in six to eight-month rotations with access to basic medical equipment and medications for some types of emergencies.