Join CNN’s Marvel Idea science e-newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.
Three NASA astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut have been unexpectedly transferred to a medical facility in Florida somewhat than returning to their dwelling base in Houston, Texas, after their splashdown aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule within the early hours of Friday morning.
The four-person crew, which spent practically eight months aboard the Worldwide House Station earlier than touchdown within the Gulf of Mexico on Friday at 3:29 a.m. ET, had a “secure splashdown and restoration,” in keeping with NASA.
Nevertheless, the astronauts “have been taken to a neighborhood medical facility for added analysis,” NASA information chief Cheryl Warner mentioned in an announcement from the house company shared at 8 a.m. ET.
“The crew exited the Dragon spacecraft onto a restoration ship for normal post-flight medical evaluations,” Warner mentioned. “Out of an abundance of warning, all crew members have been flown to the power collectively.”
Warner confirmed at 9 a.m. ET that the crew was nonetheless on the medical facility, however didn’t present particulars concerning the nature of the medical checks. She additionally confirmed the crew was taken to Ascension Sacred Coronary heart Pensacola, a hospital positioned close to the crew’s splashdown web site within the Gulf.
The 4 crewmates — together with NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps and Alexander Grebenkin of Russia’s house company, Roscosmos — make up the workers of Crew-8, a routine mission to the Worldwide House Station that was carried out by SpaceX on behalf of NASA.
All 4 astronauts had been seen smiling and waving as they exited their Crew Dragon capsule and boarded a restoration ship throughout a livestream of their splashdown in a single day.
Officers at NASA additionally didn’t supply any indication of medical points throughout a 5 a.m. ET information briefing.
“Proper now the crew is doing nice. They’re going to spend a bit little bit of time on the restoration vessel going by way of their their medical checks,” mentioned Richard Jones, NASA’s deputy supervisor of the Business Crew Program, on the time. “They’ll quickly be on their method again to to Houston in spite of everything of these are completed.”
Crew-8’s return
In depth medical checkouts are routine after long-duration missions to house. And Crew-8’s keep was a bit longer than most astronauts touring to the ISS.
Routinely journeys sometimes final roughly 5 to seven months.
“(Crew-8 was) the longest period in house for a US crewed car at 235 days,” Jones mentioned.
The Crew-8 workforce, which launched into house on March 4, confronted repeated delays of their return dwelling for a wide range of causes. Among the many roadblocks have been schedule adjustments associated to points with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, which had carried two NASA astronauts to the house station on a check flight in June however was deemed too dangerous to return its crew again to Earth.
NASA in the end selected to return the Boeing spacecraft dwelling empty and moved Starliner’s astronauts onto the SpaceX Crew-9 mission, delaying that mission’s launch and thus Crew-8’s return.
Further climate delays additionally pushed the Crew-8 astronauts’ return into late October.
For extra CNN information and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
