Four astronauts were hospitalized after returning to Earth from an eight-month mission to the International Space Station, and one of them was kept overnight in stable condition.

Three NASA astronauts — Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps — and a Russian cosmonaut, Alexander Grebenkin, landed in the Gulf of Mexico near Pensacola, Florida, Friday around 3:30 a.m.

“After safely splashing down on Earth as part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission Friday, a NASA astronaut experienced a medical issue,” the agency said in a statement.

This image shows the astronauts shortly after they landed in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida Friday.
AP

It did not say which NASA crew member needed medical attention or what the condition was.

The four members who were aboard the Dragon spacecraft were flown to Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola hospital, and three were released later in the day, returning to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

One astronaut remained under observation at Ascension “as a precautionary measure,” officials said, but was released on Saturday to join the crew at the space station.

“The crew member is in good health and will resume normal post-flight reconditioning with other crew members,” NASA said in a statement Saturday afternoon.

“To protect the crew member’s medical privacy, specific details on the individual’s condition and identity will not be shared,” the agency added.

Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, shared a photo on social media of Grebenkin smiling with the caption, “After a space mission and splashdown, cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin feels great!” according to reports.

NASA did not release the identity of the astronaut who was taken to the hospital. AP

The crew traveled nearly 100 million miles over the course of their 235-day mission and completed 3,760 orbits around Earth.

The typically six-month-long mission was delayed because of Hurricanes Helene and Milton churning in the waters they were set to touch down in, after earlier getting pushed back by the troubles with Boeing’s Starliner, which returned empty from a trip to the space station in September after experiencing mechanical problems.

Officials said that the splashdown weather on Friday was “ideal” and that recovery teams from NASA and SpaceX secured the spacecraft and assisted the astronauts after a “normal entry and splashdown.”

The astronauts who returned are Alexander Grebenkin, Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick and Jeanette Epps. ZUMAPRESS.com

But there were two hitches with the parachute deployment upon the crew’s return, neither of which affected crew safety, according to Richard Jones, deputy manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

The crew’s initial set of braking parachutes suffered “debris strikes,” and one parachute took longer to unfurl than expected, Jones said at a press briefing.

The trip marked NASA’s eighth commercial crew rotation mission to the International Space Station.

The crew’s latest research covered stem cell manufacturing to treat degenerative diseases like Parkinson’s, fuel temperature’s affect on flammability and how spaceflight impacts immune function in astronauts.

“Their work aims to improve astronaut health during long-duration spaceflights, contributing to critical advancements in space medicine and benefiting humanity,” NASA said in a statement.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX’s fleet has flown to the ISS 44 times and is the only US company currently sending astronauts to and from the space station, which orbits about 250 miles above the Earth.

The two test pilots for the first flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, NASA’s Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, remain on the space station despite initially expecting to spend only eight days in space when they launched in September.

They are now due to return to Earth in February, along with two astronauts launched by SpaceX four weeks ago.

With Post wires