WASHINGTON: A NASA astronaut was flown to a hospital on Friday due to an unspecified medical issue shortly after returning from a nearly eight-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
The astronaut, whose identity has not been disclosed for privacy reasons, splashed down off the coast of Florida in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, accompanied by three other crew members—two NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut.
Initially, NASA stated that all crew members were transported to a medical center for additional evaluation as a precaution, but it did not clarify whether everyone was experiencing issues. Later, NASA confirmed that one astronaut had encountered a medical problem and was taken to a hospital in Pensacola, Florida, near the splashdown site. The other three crew members have since been discharged and returned to Houston.
According to NASA, the astronaut remaining at Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola hospital is in stable condition and under observation as a precaution. The agency has not disclosed the nature of the astronaut’s condition.
NASA mentioned that all crew members underwent standard medical evaluations after exiting the spacecraft, but, “out of an abundance of caution, all crew members were flown to the facility together” for further assessments.
Typically reticent about medical issues involving astronauts, NASA refrained from elaborating on the reasons for the heightened caution or the overall condition of the crew. Russia’s space agency has not yet responded to inquiries regarding the astronaut’s health.
SpaceX, which operates a fleet of reusable spacecraft, has successfully flown to the ISS 44 times and remains NASA’s sole provider for astronaut transportation to and from the station. Boeing’s Starliner, intended as an additional option, has faced delays due to ongoing development challenges.
The Crew-8 astronauts spent 235 days in space, longer than the typical six-month missions on the ISS, marking the longest mission for SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft since its debut in 2020.
The crew’s return was delayed for weeks due to two hurricanes affecting the southeastern U.S. near the planned splashdown areas. However, the Crew Dragon successfully undocked from the ISS on Wednesday and re-entered Earth’s atmosphere early Friday, deploying parachutes before landing in the Gulf of Mexico.
At a post-splashdown briefing, a NASA official stated that “the crew is doing great” and did not mention any issues with the astronauts, although he noted some concerns with Crew Dragon’s parachute deployment. Richard Jones, deputy manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, reported that the initial set of braking parachutes experienced some “debris strikes,” and one of the four parachutes in a subsequent set took longer than expected to deploy.
