HOUSTON, TX — A NASA astronaut who is a member of the Crew-8 mission that returned to Earth in a splashdown on Friday was released from a Florida hospital after a brief stay, according to the U.S. space agency.
What You Need To Know
- A NASA astronaut who was briefly hospitalized after returning from space has been released, the space agency said Saturday
- The astronaut, who was not identified, was kept for observation for an unspecified medical issue
- NASA says the astronaut is in “good health” and would “resume normal post-flight reconditioning with other crew members”
- RELATED: NASA: Crew-8 astronaut had ‘medical issue’; flown to Florida hospital
NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin returned home in SpaceX’s Dragon space capsule Endeavour near Pensacola, Florida, at around 3:29 a.m. ET.
After the splashdown and going onboard the SpaceX recovery vessel Megan, the four were originally going to be flown by helicopter to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
Instead, one of the crew experienced a medical issue and all four were flown to Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola in Florida.
After a medical evaluation, three of the crew members were given the green light to go to the Johnson Space Center but one of them stayed at the hospital for observation, but was listed in stable condition.
On Saturday, NASA issued a press release on its blog, only stating that it was a NASA astronaut who was at the hospital but he or she was released and is now at the Johnson Space Center.
“The crew member is in good health and will resume normal post-flight reconditioning with other crew members,” NASA stated, adding, “To protect the crew member’s medical privacy, specific details on the individual’s condition and identity will not be shared.”
Crew-8 left from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center back in March and spent seven months of their 235-day mission conducting scientific experiments on the International Space Station.
They were supposed to return to Earth in August, but NASA’s investigation into Boeing’s troubled Starliner capsule and Hurricane Milton pushed back the homecoming.
However, on Wednesday, the SpaceX Dragon called Endeavour undocked from the space station and took more than 30 hours to return back to Earth.