CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Three NASA astronauts whose extended area station mission ended with a visit to the hospital final month declined to say Friday which one among them was sick.
Astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps publicly mentioned their spaceflight for the primary time since getting back from the Worldwide House Station on Oct. 25. They spent almost eight months in orbit, longer than anticipated due to all the difficulty with Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule and tough climate, together with Hurricane Milton.
Quickly after their SpaceX capsule splashed down within the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast, the three had been taken to a hospital in close by Pensacola together with Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, who launched with them again in March.
One of many Individuals ended up spending the evening there for an undisclosed “medical concern.” NASA declined to say who was hospitalized or why, citing medical privateness.


When requested at Friday’s information convention which one had been sick, the astronauts refused to remark. Barratt, a health care provider who focuses on area drugs, declined to even describe the signs that the unidentified astronaut had.
“Spaceflight remains to be one thing we don’t absolutely perceive. We’re discovering issues that we don’t count on typically. This was a type of occasions and we’re nonetheless piecing issues collectively on this,” mentioned Barratt, the one member of the crew who had flown in area earlier than.
Epps mentioned everyone seems to be totally different in how they reply to area — and gravity.
“That’s the half which you can’t predict,” she mentioned, including, “Each day is healthier than the day earlier than.”
We Want Your Help
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
Dominick mentioned little issues like sitting comfortably in a tough chair took a number of days to get used to as soon as he returned. He mentioned he didn’t use the treadmill in any respect throughout his time in area, as a part of an experiment to see what gear is likely to be pared on an extended journey to Mars. The primary time he walked was when he acquired out of the capsule.
The 2 astronauts who served as take a look at pilots for Boeing’s Starliner — Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — will stay on the area station till February, flying again with SpaceX. Starliner returned empty in September.
The Related Press Well being and Science Division receives assist from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Academic Media Group. The AP is solely answerable for all content material.