A NASA astronaut has given a cryptic explanation for why his crew of four was mysteriously hospitalized after returning to Earth from space last month.
Astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps were taken to a medical center in Florida after splashdown on October 25, and one of the crew members stayed overnight for “observation.”
Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin returned to the NASA crew and was also taken to a hospital in nearby Pensacola, but did not speak at a live briefing on Friday.
NASA has remained silent about the reason for the hospital visit and the crew continued to dodge questions at Friday’s briefing.
“Space flight is still something we don’t fully understand,” Barratt said.
‘Sometimes we find things we didn’t expect. This was one of those moments and we are still piecing things together.”
The trained doctor referred to the emergency room visit only as a “medical event,” saying NASA will reveal full details “in due course.”
While NASA has declined to provide any other information, a source told DailyMail.com that “blood pressure issues” could have landed them in the Florida hospital.
Astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, were hospitalized upon returning to Earth from the ISS.
The NASA astronauts continued to mention the “medical event,” but avoided giving details about which of them spent the night.
“Everyone is different,” Epps said, “and that’s the part you can’t predict.”
Dominick, however, noted, “The biggest things you expect are to be disoriented and dizzy.”
‘But the little things, like just sitting on a hard chair, my butt hasn’t really sat on something hard for 235 days… It’s pretty uncomfortable, right? “I didn’t expect that.”
Astronauts returning to Earth experience a dramatic drop in blood pressure, which can lead to orthostatic hypotension, a form of low blood pressure that occurs when a person stands up or lies down.
Orthostatic hypotension occurs in astronauts because gravity pushes blood downward when their bodies have been in low gravity, thus causing a shock-like impact on their system.
Symptoms of orthostatic hypotension include lightheadedness or dizziness and occurs in almost all astronauts after long-duration missions.
While the source told DailyMail.com that this could have been the cause of the hospitalizations, he said: “NASA can play with the ‘medical privacy issue’ all day.”
The Crew-8 astronauts landed on SpaceX’s Dragon Endeavor on October 25, after a 235-day mission. POT
The crew was stranded on the ISS for eight months when their stay was scheduled until early August, but the faulty Boeing crew capsule and Hurricane Milton made a summer return impossible – clocking in at a total of 235 days.
Crew-8 successfully splashdowned at 3:30 a.m. ET, following launch to the orbital laboratory on March 3.
During an Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel meeting on October 31, former astronaut and committee member Kent Rominger listed a number of “recent issues” with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft.
He said the setbacks serve as a reminder to remain vigilant as the company increases the pace of its missions.
“Both NASA and SpaceX must focus on the safe operations of Crew Dragon and not take any ‘normal’ operations for granted,” Rominger said.
The US space agency had only confirmed that one crew member had been taken to the hospital, but it was later learned that all four had made the trip.
NASA’s decision not to reveal who that astronaut was or disclose details about his condition was made “to protect the crew member’s medical privacy.”
But experts have speculated that low blood pressure was the cause.
“Upon returning to Earth, gravity again ‘pulls’ blood and fluids to the abdomen and legs,” according to NASA.
“The loss of blood volume, combined with the atrophy of the heart and blood vessels that can occur in space, reduces the ability to regulate the drop in blood pressure that occurs when we are on Earth.”