Space station crew taken for medical evaluation after return from record-setting 235-day mission
Three NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut returned to Earth early Friday, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico to close out an extended 235-day expedition to the International Space Station. But one crew member experienced a “medical issue” of some sort after splashdown and was hospitalized in Pensacola.
The astronaut “is in stable condition under observation as a precautionary measure,” NASA said in a statement 10 hours after the Crew Dragon’s landing. “To protect the crew member’s medical privacy, specific details on the individual’s condition or identity will not be shared.”
The other three crew members were flown back to the Johnson Space Center aboard a NASA jet. No other details were immediately available.
NASA TV
After a high-speed re-entry above Central America and a steep descent to the Gulf, Crew 8 commander Matthew Dominick, co-pilot Michael Barratt, astronaut Jeanette Epps and cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin settled to a relatively gentle, on-target splashdown south of Pensacola, Florida, at 3:29 a.m. EDT.
without its crew on September 7 and Crew 9 was launched with just two passengers — Nick Hague and cosmonaut Alexander Gobrunov — on Sept. 28.
That freed up two seats aboard the Crew Dragon for Wilmore and Williams to use when they come home next February with Hague and Gorbunov.
Sorting all that out pushed the Crew 8 departure into October. NASA and SpaceX then were repeatedly held up by high winds and rough seas at the approved splashdown sites, much of it related to hurricanes Helene and Milton.
But this week, conditions in the Gulf finally met NASA’s safety guidelines and the crew was cleared to undock and head for home.
With Crew 8 back on Earth, the Crew 9 crew will board their own Crew Dragon capsule early Sunday, Nov. 3, undock from the Harmony module’s forward port and then redock at its space-facing port.
The next day, an ISS-bound SpaceX cargo ship is scheduled for launch from the Kennedy Space Center. After an automated rendezvous, the ship will dock at the just vacated forward port on Nov. 5, election day in the United States.
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Source: cbsnews.com