WASHINGTON — The three NASA astronauts who returned to Earth as part of the Crew-8 mission refused to discuss the medical problem that motivated them to go to the hospital after their return and, for one of them them to spend the night there.

NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick and Jeanette Epps, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, returned to Earth on October 25 aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft, concluding the 235-day Crew-8 mission . But later in the day, NASA said that four were taken to a hospital in Pensacola, Florida, for additional medical evaluations “out of great caution.” One of the NASA astronauts was hospitalized there in stable condition, but released the next day “in good health”.

NASA has not released the identity of the hospitalized astronaut or the specific medical issue that prompted his hospital visit. At a press conference on November 8 to discuss their mission, the three NASA astronauts refused to discuss details of the incident, citing medical confidentiality.

“Spaceflight is still something we don’t fully understand. “We sometimes discover things we didn’t expect, and this was one of those moments,” Barratt, a doctor, said of what he called the “medical event” after the water landing. . “We are still putting things together on this matter and so, to preserve medical confidentiality and allow our processes to proceed in an orderly manner, that is all we are going to say about this event at this time .”

He evaded further questions during the hospitalization briefing. “Space medicine is my passion,” he said. “Over time we will allow this to be made public and documented. At this time, medical confidentiality is very important to us. We still maintain that in a lot of things we do. The same with due process. Both of these things undermine our ability to talk about it today.

All three said they were gradually adapting after nearly eight months in microgravity. “It’s a very slow progression,” Dominick said.

“Everyone is different, and that’s the part you can’t predict,” Epps added.

The briefing came a day after NASA denied rumors of a health issue with an astronaut currently on the International Space Station. Several articles claimed that astronaut Sunita Williams was in poor health, claims linked to a non-NASA doctor’s assessment of a single image of Williams, taken in September, where the doctor said Williams appeared “thin.”

NASA spokeswoman Cheryl Warner said Nov. 7 that Wiliams was in good health and that doctors were “not following up on any concerns” about her or other station crew members: “All astronauts from NASA aboard the International Space Station are undergoing routine medical evaluations, have dedicated flight surgeons monitoring them and are in good health. Notably, other images of Williams on the station released more recently by NASA appear to show her in good health.

Spacewalk Scrubs

Before their splashdown, the biggest problem faced by the Crew-8 astronauts was two aborted spacewalks in June. A spacewalk involving Dominick and NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson was canceled due to what NASA called at the time a “spacesuit discomfort issue”, while a more spacewalk late in the month involving Barratt and Dyson was cut short after an umbilical line connecting Dyson’s suit to the station’s systems leaked. water when unplugged.

“This was not a harmless leak,” Barratt said at the briefing. Since the airlock hatch was opened, the escaping water turned into ice, creating “a blizzard” of ice particles. “It was very dramatic.”

He praised Dyson for his “nowhere heroic” actions to reconnect the umbilical despite his hands and visor being covered in ice. “To close the airlock, I grabbed her legs and used her as an end effector to close this thing,” he said.

“There was a little drama. Everything went well and, again, normal processes and procedures saved our lives,” he concluded.

He explained that the problem was caused by a flap valve “that was not seated correctly” on the umbilical’s interface with the suit. “I think we solved that problem by changing the whole umbilical.” However, by the time this umbilical was replaced, it was too late to begin preparations for another spacewalk before the end of their time at the station.

During a Nov. 4 briefing on the launch of the SpX-31 cargo mission to the station, Bill Spetch, NASA ISS operations and integration manager, said that upcoming spacewalks from the station are planned for early 2025. He also said that “pipes and other components” in the umbilical have been replaced and tested. “All systems in the suit functioned as designed.”

Dominick, during the Crew-8 briefing, had little to add about the suit discomfort issue that canceled his spacewalk. “We’re still looking at it and trying to understand all the details,” he said.

He admitted his “frustration” at not being able to perform the spacewalk after years of ground training. “It’s no surprise that there’s frustration because you’ve put in all this effort, all these years, and you’re in a suit, ready to go out and you don’t.” , he said.

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