Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news of fascinating discoveries, scientific advances and more.
CNN
—
There were three NASA astronauts and, unexpectedly, a Russian cosmonaut They were transferred to a medical facility in Florida rather than immediately returning to their original base in Houston After landing early Friday morning aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.
One of those astronauts remained at Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola on Friday due to a “medical issue,” while the other three flew to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston after a health evaluation at the same hospital, which is located near the crew’s landing site in the Gulf of Mexico. Mexico. The remaining crew member was released from the medical facility and returned to Houston on Saturday. According to NASA.
The space agency did not provide any further details about the astronaut who experienced the medical problem, saying only in a statement on Friday that the crew member was “in stable condition” and “under observation as a precaution.”
“To protect the crew member’s medical privacy, specific details about the individual’s condition or identity will not be shared,” according to a statement issued Friday afternoon from NASA Chief News Officer Cheryl Warner.
The four-person crew, which spent nearly eight months aboard the International Space Station before landing in the Gulf of Mexico at 3:29 a.m. ET on Friday, had a “safe landing and recovery,” NASA said Friday morning.
However, all four astronauts have been transported to a local medical facility for additional evaluation, according to an update from Warner shared at 8 a.m. ET. This measure was taken for the entire crew “out of an abundance of caution,” according to NASA.
The four crew members – Including NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Janet Epps and Alexander Grebenkin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos – they make up the crew of Crew-8, a routine mission to the International Space Station carried out by Space
All four astronauts were seen smiling and waving as they exited their Crew Dragon capsule and boarded the rescue ship during a live broadcast of their landing early Friday.
NASA officials also gave no indication of medical issues during a 5 a.m. ET news conference after landing.
“Right now the crew is doing a great job. They will spend some time on the recovery ship doing their medical checks,” Richard Jones, deputy director of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said at the time. “They will soon be on their way back to Houston after completing “All of it.”
Comprehensive medical examinations are routine after long missions into space. Crew-8’s stay was slightly longer than that of most astronauts who travel to the space station.
Routine trips usually take approximately five to seven months.
“(Crew 8) had the longest time in space for an American crewed vehicle at 235 days,” Jones said.
The Crew-8 team, which launched into space on March 4, has faced repeated delays in its return home for several reasons. Among the hurdles were schedule changes related to problems with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which carried two NASA astronauts to the space station on a test flight in June but was deemed too risky to return a crew to Earth.
NASA ultimately chose to return the Boeing spacecraft home empty and transferred the Starliner astronauts to the SpaceX Crew-9 mission, delaying the launch of that mission and thus the return of Crew-8.
Additional weather delays also pushed the Crew-8 astronauts to late October.
“Devoted student. Bacon advocate. Beer scholar. Troublemaker. Falls down a lot. Typical coffee enthusiast.”