NASA tells CNN that three NASA astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut were unexpectedly
transferred to a medical facility in Florida rather than returning to their home base in Houston, Texas,
following their splashdown aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule in the early hours of Friday
morning. This was done "out of an abundance of caution," according to NASA.
According to NASA, the four-person crew had a "safe splashdown and recovery" after spending
nearly eight months aboard the International Space Station before landing in the Gulf of Mexico on
Friday at 3:29 a.m. ET.
However, in a statement released at 8 a.m. Eastern Time (ET), NASA news chief Cheryl Warner stated
that the astronauts "were taken to a local medical facility for additional evaluation."
Warner stated, "The crew exited the Dragon spacecraft onto a recovery ship for standard medical
evaluations following the flight." All crew members were flown to the facility together out of an
abundance of caution.
At 9 a.m. ET, Warner said that the crew was still at the hospital, but he didn't say what the medical
checks were about. She also confirmed that the crew was transported to Ascension Sacred Heart
Pensacola, a Gulf Coast hospital close to where the crew splashed down.
The crew of Crew-8, a routine mission that was carried out by SpaceX on behalf of NASA and
included NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and Alexander
Grebenkin of Russia's space agency Roscosmos, are made up of the four crew members.
During a livestream of their overnight splashdown, all four astronauts were seen smiling and waving
as they got out of their Crew Dragon capsule and boarded a recovery ship.
During a 5 a.m. ET news briefing, NASA officials also did not indicate any health issues.
The crew is doing extremely well right now. At the time, NASA deputy manager of the Commercial
Crew Program Richard Jones stated, "They are going to spend a little bit of time on the recovery
vessel going through their medical checks." When all of those are finished, they will soon be
returning to Houston.
When Crew-8 returns, it is common practice to conduct extensive medical checks. Additionally, Crew-
8's stay was shorter than that of the majority of astronauts traveling to the ISS.
Trips on a regular basis typically last between five and seven months.
According to Jones, "Crew-8 was the longest duration in space for a US crewed vehicle at 235 days."
For a variety of reasons, the Crew-8 team's return to Earth was repeatedly delayed after they
launched into space on March 4. Changes to the schedule resulting from issues with the Boeing
Starliner spacecraft were one of the obstacles. In June, the spacecraft had carried two NASA
astronauts to the space station on a test flight, but it was deemed too risky to return its crew to
Earth.
In the end, NASA decided to empty the Boeing spacecraft and move Starliner's astronauts onto the
SpaceX Crew-9 mission, delaying Crew-8's return and the launch of that mission.
Further weather-related delays
