NASA takes astronauts to the doctor after they return from space – 10/25/2024 – Science

Three astronauts and an astronaut were transferred to a medical unit as a precaution on Friday (25) after returning to Earth from an almost eight-month mission on the International Space Station (ISS).

The US space agency said in a statement after landing off the coast of Florida on board a SpaceX spacecraft that the three NASA astronauts – Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Janet Epps, and Russian astronaut Alexander Grebenkin – “were transferred to a local medical facility for further evaluation.” Crew Dragon spacecraft.

Upon leaving the capsule, they underwent a standard medical evaluation, according to NASA. However, “as a precaution, all crew members were transferred to the unit together” for further evaluation.

NASA, which is generally silent about astronauts’ medical problems, declined to reveal the reasoning behind its decision or the crew’s condition. The Russian space agency Roscosmos also did not comment on Grebenkin’s photo.

The Crew-8 astronauts’ stay aboard the International Space Station, a laboratory the size of a football field, was 235 days, longer than the astronauts’ typical six-month missions on the station. It also marks the longest mission yet for SpaceX’s Crew Dragon vehicle, which debuted in 2020.

In total, SpaceX has already flown 44 times to the International Space Station. Elon Musk’s company remains the United States’ only option for astronaut travel to the International Space Station. The plan to make Boeing’s Starliner a second option has progressed slowly due to a series of hurdles in developing the capsule.

The crew’s return was delayed for weeks by two hurricanes that passed through the southeastern United States, near the Crew Dragon’s expected landing zones.

However, last Wednesday afternoon (23), the spacecraft safely separated from the International Space Station. It re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere in the early hours of Friday (25) and opened its parachutes before falling into the Gulf of Mexico.

In a press conference after landing, a NASA representative said that “the crew is in great condition” and did not mention any problems with the astronauts, but pointed to problems with parachute deployment.

Richard Jones, deputy director of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, said the initial set of braking parachutes suffered from debris impacts and that one of 4 parachutes in a later set took longer than expected to deploy.

However, none of these unexpected events affected crew safety, according to Jones. The spacecraft used for this mission was on its fifth flight, totaling 702 days in orbit since its first mission.