NASA said Friday that its astronauts are in a Florida hospital for medical observation after a “normal” pre-dawn splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico in a SpaceX capsule.
The mission's other three crew members were cleared to return to their home base at the Johnson Space Center in Houston after their own medical evaluation, NASA said.
The hospitalized astronaut “is in stable condition and is under observation as a precaution,” a NASA spokesperson said in a statement. The agency did not identify the astronaut or provide details about their condition, citing medical privacy protections.
Strapped into their seats next to SpaceX's Crew Dragon Adventure spacecraft, the four-man crew crashed just south of Pensacola, Florida, at 3:29 a.m. EDT (07:29 UTC) on Friday, concluding a 235-day mission in low Earth orbit.
NASA extended their stay at the International Space Station earlier this year to accommodate schedule changes caused by the troubled test flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, and then to wait for better weather conditions at SpaceX's recovery zones near Florida.
Commander Matthew Dominick, pilot Michael Barratt, mission specialist Jeanette Epps and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin was in SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft for reentry and landing. NASA said one of its astronauts “experienced a medical issue” after landing, and all four crew members were flown to Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola for medical evaluation.
Three of the crew members were later released and departed Pensacola on a NASA business jet to fly back to Houston, NASA said. The unknown astronaut remains on Ascension.
“We are grateful to Ascension Sacred Heart for its support during this time, and we are proud of our team for taking swift action to ensure the safety of our crew members,” the NASA spokesperson said. “NASA will provide additional information as it becomes available.”
Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, left, NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, second from left, Matthew Dominick, second from right, and Jeanette Epps, right are seen shortly after landing in the SpaceX Dragon Endeavor spacecraft Friday morning.
Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, left, NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, second from left, Matthew Dominick, second from right, and Jeanette Epps, right are seen shortly after landing in the SpaceX Dragon Endeavor spacecraft Friday morning.
Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
This mission, designated Crew-8, was SpaceX's eighth operational crew rotation flight to the space station under a multi-billion dollar commercial crew contract with NASA. This was the first flight into space for Dominick, Epps and Grebenkin, and the third space mission for Barratt.
Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, has released a photo of Grebenkin is in Pensacola a few hours after landing. “After the space mission and landing, cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin feels great!” Roscosmos posted this on its Telegram channel.
Adaptation to the Earth
This isn't the first time an astronaut has been hospitalized after returning to Earth, but it doesn't happen often. South Korean astronaut Yi So-yeon was hospitalized for back pain after experiencing higher-than-expected g-forces during his return to a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in 2008.
Three NASA astronauts were hospitalized in Hawaii after crashing at the end of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mission in 1975. The astronauts suffered lung irritation after inhaling toxic fumes from the Apollo spacecraft's thrusters in the final moments before crashing.
