NASA sends and recovers astronauts every six months. During this half-year, they live in orbit, 400 kilometers from the surface, in the ISS. If the departure missions to this giant can are unique moments, forever engraved in their history, the return flight is just as important.
For this Crew-8 mission, it was Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX, which was responsible for bringing 4 astronauts back to Earth. On board the Crew Dragon capsule, Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebionkine, with Americans Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick and Jeanette Epps. They left Earth on March 4 and will have spent a total of 232 days aboard the ISS.
An eventful return
It was therefore this Friday, October 25 in the morning (Florida time) that the mission ended. SpaceX’s “Endeavour” capsule was their last means of transport, before returning to Earth for the first time in more than six months.
It was possible to follow the return of the astronauts via live from NASA and when the capsule hits the water, slowed down by its 4 parachutes, the commentators do not seem particularly worried. In the images everything appears normal, and this return to Earth looks like all the others.
But very quickly, NASA will communicate about an “unusual” situation. The American space agency announces that the 4 astronauts present in the capsule will be transported to hospital. During a press conference, a few hours after the incident, NASA admitted that this hospitalization had been made “out of an abundance of caution”.
Everything ends well
After a few hours, three of the 4 astronauts were brought back to the Florida space center to follow standard protocol. Only one astronaut, whose identity has not been revealed, remained under observation overnight from Friday to Saturday.
This Monday, NASA assured that the 4 astronauts were back in Houston, at the control center of the American space agency. She assured in a communication this weekend that the “astronauts are doing well” and that all 4 of them were following “normal post-flight reconditioning”.
A flight that raises questions
If the American agency was very talkative about the health of its astronauts, it did not talk much about the reasons which led to their hospitalization. If on the live images of their return, everything seems to be going well.
The American space agency will certainly conduct an internal investigation to understand the reasons for this incident. The astronauts should also, during their next speeches to the media, help us better understand the last minutes of their journey.
