After the Crew 8 mission ditching went as scheduled last Friday, Oct. 25 off the coast of Florida aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavour shuttle, one of the four crew astronauts experienced a medical problem during the checks that are usually performed aboard the ship responsible for recovering the capsule. NASA confirmed that the ditching operation and capsule recovery went off without incident.
The crew consisting of Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps of NASA and Alexander Grebenkin of Roscosmos returned to Earth after a 235-day mission, about a month longer than planned, aboard the International Space Station. However, other astronauts in the past have also spent a full year in space without experiencing health problems, the NASA space agency points out.
Playing it safe, all astronauts were taken to Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, Florida where medical checks were performed. Subsequently, three of the crew members were immediately discharged, while the fourth astronaut was detained overnight as a precautionary measure and discharged the following day.
For privacy reasons, no medical information or details about the astronaut’s identity have been released. NASA said, “We are grateful to Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital for its support and are proud of our team for its timely action to ensure the safety of our crew members.”
